The White House said Thursday that a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War and the normalization of U.S.-North Korean relations would depend on Pyongyang abiding by a six-nation agreement that calls for dismantling its nuclear-weapons program. “There is a process for this,” said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe, pointing to the six-nation talks between the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia. Taking North Korea off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a drafting peace treaty, and normalizing U.S.-North Korean relations are “all conditioned on action-for-action” progress on the denuclearization deal, Johndroe told reporters. “Again, it's a process, there are certain actions that we expect by the end of the year, such as the disablement of [the] Yongbyon [nuclear complex], and their actions will be met with actions on our end,” Johndroe said. The White House comments came after North and South Korean leaders called Thursday for a nuclear-free peninsula and a permanent peace agreement to end the world's last Cold War divide as they concluded a rare summit.
