N Korea wants better ties with the South

PYONGYANG: North Korea yesterday urged the South Korean new government to improve interKorean relations.

Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, said in a commentary that the adoption of the June 15 Joint Declaration thawed the north-south confrontation which had existed for more than half a century.

The June 15 Joint Declaration was issued after then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and late North Korean top leader Kim Jong Il met in Pyongyang in 2000.

The keynote of the declaration is that the Korean nation is responsible for Korea’s reunification and the issue of national reunification should be settled independently solely by the Korean nation itself. Xinhua