US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert

Washington : The US has said that North Korea should denuclearise before Washington signs a war-ending declaration with Pyongyang.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency quoted State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert as saying: “We believe that denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts.”

US media had reported earlier that the signing of a joint declaration to formally end the Korean War was one of the verbal agreements between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when they met on June 12 in Singapore.

But besides the pace and scale of denuclearization, Washington and Pyongyang have disagreed on whether to issue a war-ending declaration.

North Korea has argued that such a document is the first step towards peace on the peninsula, whereas US has said it is too early to discuss the topic.

At the conclusion of the historic Trump-Kim summit, the two sides issued a joint statement in which they agreed to improve bilateral relations and work together to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the peninsula.

—IANS