The Korean War has raged on since 1950, and a state of permanent war with North Korea has become such a staple of US policy that some people can’t even imagine what the alternative looks like. That includes UN Command Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre

Lt. Gen. Eyre said he doesn’t understand why North Korea is “pushing so hard for that end-of-war declaration,” He accused North Korea of plotting to try to split those who are allied in that 68-year-long war.

Incredibly, Eyre went on to claim that a state of peace would itself be a “slippery slope” on the Korean Peninsula, on the grounds that if there’s not a war, people might ask what the UN Command is even doing there, or further still, whether the US needs a massive military presence in South Korea.

Permanent states of war are a valuable form of job security for career generals, of course, but the UN Command overseeing the 1953 armistice was never meant to be an eternal military force in Korea. Rather, it was expected to last until the peace treaty could be finalized, which wasn’t supposed to take 68 years. Now that it has, top members of the command are worried what they’ll do without such a justification.