South Korea may seek to replace its uneasy truce with North Korea with a formal peace treaty, according to officials in Seoul, as the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next week.

The officials added, however, that negotiating a peace treaty to replace the armistice agreed by the two Koreas at the end of their 1950-53 war would be contingent on Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

Chung Eui-yong, head of South Korea’s presidential national security office, said Seoul and Washington were exploring several ways in which to reward the North for agreeing to its complete and verifiable denuclearisation.

Among the options are peace treaties with both South Korea and the US.

“We are discussing how we could remove the security concerns held by North Korea,” Chung was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.