Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                N. Korean Leader Says Open to Summit with South

   by Reuters

   North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday that he was open to a
   high-level summit with neighboring South Korea, days after Seoul
   proposed that dialogue resume.

   "If South Korean authorities sincerely want to improve relations
   between North and South Korea through talks, we can resume stalled
   high-level meetings,'' Kim said in what appeared to be a pre-recorded
   New Year's address that was broadcast by state media.

   "If the atmosphere and environment is there, there is no reason not to
   hold a high-level summit"  with South Korea, he said.

   South Korea proposed Monday that the two Koreas resume stalled talks in
   January on issues including reunions for families separated by the
   1950-53 Korean War.

   Because that war ended in an armistice, rather than a treaty, the two
   counties have remained technically at war. Reunification of the Korean
   peninsula has been a stated priority for both governments.

   "There's no change in (our) government's stance to establish peace on
   the Korean peninsula by promoting trust between North and South through
   dialogue and exchange, and the development of normal relations,'' Lim
   Byeong-cheol, South Korean Ministry of Unification spokesman, told
   Reuters.

   North Korea has in the past signaled intent to improve relations with
   the South, but subsequent provocations from the North or U.S.-South
   Korean military exercises have stalled progress.

   "Annual large-scale (U.S.-South Korean) war exercises are a source of
   heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula and increase the threat of
   nuclear war,'' Kim said in the speech.

   Standing in a wood-paneled room in front of a red flag bearing the
   crest of the ruling Workers Party, Kim spoke for about 30 minutes to an
   off-camera audience, and he appeared to be reading from a script.

   He outlined the intentions of his government to further develop a
   series of special economic and tourism zones this year, including the
   reopening of the Kumgang Mountain resort, which closed after the
   shooting of a South Korean tourist in 2008.

   The setting of North Korean policy was previously only communicated in
   a New Year's editorial published annually in state newspapers. Kim,
   however, has turned to using public speeches to deliver his message, in
   a different propaganda style from that of his father, the late Kim Jong
   Il, whose voice was broadcast only once on state television.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korea-open-summit-with-south-ko
   rea/2581551.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korea-open-summit-with-south-korea/2581551.html