The online edition of the Wall Street Journal says that the U.S. government has begun studying ways to replace the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War with a formal peace treaty.
The business daily said that Washington plans to begin talks with North Korea on the matter as early as this year.

The paper quoted U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill as saying that talks could launch this year if North Korea's denuclearization process continues to move along.

Experts believe the North has stepped closer to honoring its promise to denuclearize after pledging last Friday to begin the shutdown of its Yongbyon nuclear facilities as soon as it receives heavy fuel oil from the South.