1st LD: DPRK urges advancement of relations with South Korea

Both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea should value the spirit of the agreement reached at the recent contact and advance inter-Korean relations, a senior DPRK official has said.

"It was very fortunate that the recent contact helped to defuse the danger of the touch-and-go situation ... and offered an opportunity of a dramatic change in achieving peace, stability, reconciliation and cooperation between the North and the South," Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea told the official KCNA news agency on Thursday.

"We are pleased over the fact that the North and the South sat face to face ..., had an exhaustive discussion to reach an agreement on issues of common concern, thus opening up an epochal phase for turning misfortune into blessings in the North-South relations," he added.

He stressed that both sides should value the spirit of the agreement and further develop inter-Korean relations in order to achieve reunification.

"It is of priority importance to keep afloat and develop the present trend of situation in which the North and the South put on track of detente with much effort," he said. Endi