North Korea and South Korea reached an agreement about six weeks ago that’s since caused the countries to release their military pressure on each other, which the Canadian officer ranked second in command of the monitoring force thinks could lead to more historic breakthroughs.

In July, Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre became the first non-American to hold the post of deputy commander in the United Nations Command (UNC). The UN force was founded in Korea when North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. The fighting ended in 1953 when an armistice (not a peace treaty) was signed, and the UNC was tasked with enforcing its rules. The force, which has always been staffed mainly by Americans, was joined in South Korea by the United States Forces Korea in 1957, which also still operates. The UNC was meant to serve temporarily while the north and south found a political solution to the conflict.

Eyre finally sees signs of progress.

“Over the last 65 years of armistice, this is potentially the greatest chance to achieve that lasting peace,” Eyre told iPolitics over the phone from South Korea on Thursday.

The leaders of both countries, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, have met formally three times since April. U.S. President Donald Trump also met with Kim at a summit in June, and Trump has said he expects a second summit. At the latest summit, Moon and Kim signed a new military agreement.

The UNC is now tasked with ensuring the agreement — which Eyre likens to an “extension” of the armistice — is followed. Its focus is on defusing military tensions between the countries, much of which comes from sharing a heavily armed 250-kilometre border. The countries agreed to remove mines from the demilitarized zone that separates them to allow for the retrieval of solders’ remains that are still missing from the 1950s. Eyre said 17 Canadian soldiers’ remains are still unaccounted for from the Korean War.

Along one of the world’s most heavily guarded borders, the countries also agreed to close 11 guard posts each.

Twice-a-day phone calls have been re-established with North Korea’s military, as have border crossings between certain personnel. Around 8,000 personnel have crossed the border so far this year, Eyre said. In 2017, no one crossed.

He said Thursday was an “important day,” because the areas where flights, artillery drills, and field-manoeuvring exercises are prohibited were extended.

“This is a potentially historic turning point,” Eyre said. “Having the opportunity to be here and to contribute to it — what a privilege.”

Beyond the UNC’s, he said his own role — and that of the fewer than 20 Canadian soldiers who work mostly at the UNC’s South Korean headquarters — is to increase Canada’s visibility and presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Canada’s presence is becoming more and more recognized,” Eyre said.

Eyre regularly meets with South Korea’s top defence officials, including their defence minister. He regularly communicates with top Japanese officials, as well.

“They are all realizing, ‘Hey, Canada has invested here,’ ” Eyre said.

The UNC, South Korea and North Korea hold trilateral negotiations where each is represented in the same room. Eyre does not participate in these personally, as they’re left to negotiating teams, but he said communications with North Korea’s representatives are “very co-operative and very professional” — though offering the caveat: “when they want to be.”

“There’s some skepticism out there, too, and there are some who say, ‘We’ve seen this before, we’ve seen these charm cycles, where … (North Korea gets) what they want and goes back to its old ways,’ ” Eyre said.

During a speech at Washington’s Carnegie Institute for International Peace in October, he expressed similar doubt about North Korea’s desire to formally end the Korean War. Eyre suggested it could be a ploy to convince the U.S. to pull its forces from the region.

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But he told iPolitics it’s unclear why, exactly, North Korea is acting in the way it is. Whatever the reason, the UNC won’t pass up on the country’s new-found desire to co-operate.

“Is it the fact that they believe they have a nuclear deterrent? Is it that sanctions are having an effect? Is it the impact of the Moon government here in South Korea, being on the progressive side, that very much wants to develop inter-Korean relations?” Eyre mused.

“Regardless, there’s an incredible opportunity, (and) the stars have lined up here, to find a lasting peace.”

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