[News Briefing] S. Korea to push for contacts with N. Korea

Posted on : 2012-01-06 08:54 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

South Korea said Thursday it will push for working-level contacts with North Korea as part of efforts to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula following the sudden demise of leader Kim Jong-il.
The move is designed to open high-level dialogue with North Korea and address an outstanding dispute over the North's deadly attacks on the South in 2010, which has kept the two Koreas from moving their relationship forward.
"The government keeps its door open for dialogue with North Korea," Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said in a news conference after briefing President Lee Myung-bak on the ministry's policy goals for this year.
Yu also dangled the prospect of massive aid to the impoverished northern neighbor if Pyongyang "makes a wise choice and determination" to engage in dialogue with South Korea.
The top official, who is in charge of relations with North Korea, said he could propose Cabinet-level talks with North Korea if certain conditions are met.
The two Koreas have held more than 20 rounds of Cabinet-level talks, the highest channel of regular dialogue, to boost reconciliation and cross-border projects in the seven years since a landmark summit in 2000.
However, no high-level talks have been held since 2008 when Lee's conservative government took power in Seoul with a hard-line policy toward Pyongyang.
(Yonhap News)

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