Seoul, January 01: In a New Year’s message, Pyongyang has called for dialogue to end hostility between North Korea and the United States and to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
An editorial published on Friday in several North Korea newspapers addressed international concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities after 2009 saw Washington attempt to bring Kim Jong-Il’s communist regime back to the stalled six-nation talks on the issue.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and the USA.”
“It is the consistent stand of the DPRK to establish a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations,” the editorial added.
The editorial laid emphasis on the need for a radical change in the people’s standard of living. “Our building of the country into an economic giant is aimed, to all intents and purposes, at radically improving the people’s standard of living,” the editorial quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as saying.
This would be achieved by quicker development of light industry and agriculture, it added.
The editorial also warned South Korea against “committing acts that may aggravate the confrontation and tension” and advised Seoul to “take the road of respecting the inter-Korean declarations, promoting North-South dialogue and improving relations between both sides.”
——Agencies