U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow says concluding an inter-Korean peace treaty means ending the Korean War, which he said would bring it to both a legal and political end.

The U.S. envoy said Thursday that Washington takes the position that the four countries concerned, namely South and North Korea, the U.S. and China, will work for permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula while seeking the North’s nuclear disablement under the September 19th nuclear agreement.

On the timing of the peace talks, Vershbow said that they will begin only after the North completes nuclear disablement and declares all of its nuclear materials.