Fifty years have elapsed since the Korean Armistice Agreement (KAA) was signed on July 27, 1953. But now the peace process on the Korean Peninsula has encountered a major obstacle: the nuclear issue.

The matter has also become one of grave concerns of the international community. A peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue will surely contribute to the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as it is in the interests of the related parties.

Fifty years ago, the representatives of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China and the US-led forces signed the document, declaring the end of the three-year-long Korean War and resuming peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The KAA has made its historic contributions to the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. The agreement has prevented a new war from breaking out on the peninsula and maintained the structure of truce. It has also served to guarantee peace construction in both South Korea and the DPRK and keep the stability of the region.

Since the end of the Korean War, the Korean Peninsula has been enveloped in the clouds of the cold war and under the impact of the turbulent post-cold war world. The military confrontation and precautions against each other between the DPRK and the US-South Korean side have been going on. Millions of landmines have been laid along the 246-kilometer military border, and 1.26 million accusations concerning breaching the KAA have been leveled by the DPRK and South Korea. Such an unstable situation has retarded the peace process on the peninsula, and made both sides pay heavy prices for it. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2003)