On Liberation Day, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung renewed his nation's long-standing appeal to formally close a war that has technically never ended — a conflict frozen in 1953 by armistice, not by peace. His call for negotiations reflects both a genuine shift toward engagement after years of harder-line governance and the quiet anguish of millions of Koreans who have lived their entire lives in the shadow of division. Yet the appeal lands in a landscape where North Korea has redefined its adversary as a permanent enemy, found new purpose in alignment with Russia, and treats its nuclear
Seoul's Peace Overture Faces Steep Odds as North Korea Pivots to Russia
Millions of Koreans have endured 70+ years of division and conflict, with families separated and generations traumatized by war and its aftermath.