A declaration to end the 1950-53 Korea War could be a "slippery slope" that would lead to questioning the need for the U.S. troop presence in South Korea, the deputy head of the U.N. Command overseeing the Korean armistice said on Friday, ahead of new talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Canadian Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre said North Korea's push for such a declaration could be a ploy to divide the U.S.-South Korea alliance and secure the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops based in the South.

"You have to question why North Korea is pushing so hard for that end-of-war declaration," he told an event at Washington's Carnegie Institute for International Peace.