ROK calls for dialogue with DPRK without preconditions

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Monday called for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to return to the dialogue table without any preconditions in response to the DPRK's government statement that urged the South side to form an atmosphere conducive to improving inter-Korean relations.

Seoul's Unification Ministry said in a statement that the DPRK should immediately stop acts of escalating military tensions on the peninsula as Pyongyang itself mentioned an atmosphere to ameliorate the north-south relations.

The ministry said that Pyongyang should come to the inter- governmental dialogue table without proposing any unfair preconditions and should respond to Seoul's call for private- sector exchanges that contribute to recovering homogeneity between people of the two Koreas.

The DPRK issued a government statement, carried Monday by the official KCNA news agency, saying that there is no reason that dialogue and negotiations are not launched if the atmosphere of trust and reconciliation is formed between the two Koreas.

Urging the ROK to implement the June 15th Joint Declaration, the DPRK called on the South side to suspend its joint annual war games with the United States, stop slandering each other and remove legal and regulatory mechanisms that impede inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation.

The joint declaration, which contains a consensus on reunification of the two Koreas, was signed on June 15, 2000 when then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his DPRK counterpart Kim Jong Il met in Pyongyang.

In response, the ROK ministry said that it has made clear several times its position of honoring all inter-Korean agreements made in the past, including the June 15th Joint Declaration.

Seoul has maintained a position that all issues of mutual interest, including how to fulfill inter-Korean agreements, should be resolved through a broad range of negotiations launched by sincere dialogue offers, the ministry said.

On Dec 29 last year, then ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae offered talks with his DPRK counterpart, toward which Pyongyang has kept mum.