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S. Korea making necessary efforts for inter-governmental talks with DPRK

Xinhua, October 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea's top policymaker in charge of inter-Korean relations said Thursday that the country was making "necessary efforts" to hold inter-governmental talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Unification Ministry Hong Yong-pyo told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit that in terms of talks between the authorities of the two Koreas, Seoul has been making necessary efforts while monitoring various situations after the Aug. 25 agreement.

The agreement was reached between top-level military advisors to President Park Geun-hye and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, defusing tensions that had pushed the two Koreas to the brink of armed conflict.

Under the agreement, South Korea and the DPRK have agreed to hold such dialogue in Seoul or Pyongyang at an earliest possible date.

Hong noted that there has been no progress yet on the efforts for the inter-governmental dialogue, saying that South Korea will continue to make efforts.

Asked about the DPRK's top diplomat calling for the replacement of the armistice agreement with a peace treaty, Hong said that the peace treaty could not guarantee peace on the peninsula under the current situations.

DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong told the UN General Assembly earlier this month that it has become a crucial issue to replace the armistice agreement with a peace treaty, citing the escalated military tensions in August on the peninsula caused by landmine blasts and a rare exchange of fire in border areas.

Though agreeing to the need to change the armistice agreement into a peace treaty, Hong said that the peace treaty would be meaningful only after trust is built between the two Koreas, emphasizing the importance of actual efforts to build peace on the peninsula.

He said that there have been "no immediate signs" detected yet for the DPRK to test-fire a long-range rocket to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Saturday.

Hong noted that preparations for the Oct. 20-26 reunion of Korean families, separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, were being made smoothly.

Seoul and Pyongyang have a plan to exchange on Thursday the final lists of 100 people from each side to join the humanitarian event. Endi