Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Seoul and Washington have completed considerable fine-tuning in their consultations on declaring a formal end to the Korean War.

At a parliamentary committee meeting on Thursday, Chung said the allies have reached agreement on basic principles and talks on details are ongoing. He added that they are nearly in sync on the necessity for and form of the declaration.

This comes after South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Lee Soo-hyuck said the two sides are working to devise a draft.

When asked whether the final agreement will be made easily, however, the minister said Seoul is not very optimistic about that prospect, since the declaration won't be achieved solely based on the allies' agreement.