Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung says countries concerned need to start talks on signing a formal peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula as the two Koreas have already agreed on the matter at the recent summit talks.

He told a news briefing Friday that a declaration to end the Korean War is part of a larger process of establishing a permanent peace regime, adding that whether one should come before the other is not an issue.

Lee added that the second round of preliminary discussions for the upcoming inter-Korean prime ministerial talks will discuss in detail the official name of the meeting, the formation of delegations and agenda items.

The leaders of the two Koreas agreed to push for a three- or four-way summit to formally end the Korean War. It ended in 1953 in a truce, rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.