North Korean government, political parties call for better relations with Seoul

Pyongyang: The government, political parties and organisations of North Korea held a joint conference in Pyongyang, calling for improvement of relations between the two Koreas, the official media reported Thursday. The meeting urged to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two sides and defuse the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, so as to remove misunderstandings and distrust and advance the north-south relations along the course indicated by the 15 June Joint Declaration and the 4 October Joint Declaration, Xinhua cited Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying. [caption id=“attachment_4288315” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Both declarations were signed by then leaders of the two neighbouring countries during the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007 respectively. Participants also appealed to hold joint events on the anniversaries of the signings of declarations and other occasions this year to show the “will for independent reunification,” said KCNA. The two countries’ relations of an all-time low are likely to have reached a turning point as Pyongyang and Seoul held high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom earlier in January, with the North Korea said it will participate in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, in February.