South Korea Sunday called on North Korea to accept its proposal for inter-Korean talks ahead of a key anniversary for the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000.
South and North Korea signed a landmark declaration on June 15, 2000, after concluding their first summit since the 1950-53 Korean War. The war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning the two countries remain technically at war.
In the declaration, the two Koreas agreed to make joint efforts toward reunification and boost cultural and economic exchanges.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of its adoption.
South Korea has been asking the North to come forward for talks on various issues of mutual concerns, like those covered in the declaration and other agreements the two Koreas have made in the past.
Pyongyang has spurned such proposals, accusing Seoul of conspiring with Washington to prepare a northward invasion.
“It’s regrettable that our relations have not been normalized on the 15th anniversary of the June 15th North-South Declaration,” Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said.
As with previous years, the two Koreas failed to organize a joint event marking the anniversary this year.
Last month, civilian groups from South and North Korea tentatively agreed to jointly celebrate the anniversary in a three-day event starting June 14 in Seoul.
But earlier this month, the North declared it “would be better” to hold separate events, denouncing Seoul for refusing to allow the joint events to be held in Pyongyang and setting preconditions by allowing only non-political exchanges.
The 2000 inter-Korean summit was held between then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. (Yonhap)
