South Korean President Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to lay the groundwork for potential unification in the new year amid continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"I will open the path toward unification by laying substantial and specific groundwork for unification," Park said in a New Year's video message. The Korean Peninsula was divided into the capitalistic South and communist North after its liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Park's comments came two days after South Korea proposed that the two rival Koreas hold ministerial talks in January to discuss such bilateral issues as the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The North has remained silent on Seoul's fresh offer made by South Korea's presidential committee established to make preparations for reunification. The two Koreas had their last ministerial talks in Seoul in May 2007, although they held separate high-level talks in February. Park has made repeated pitches for unification in recent months, calling it a "bonanza" for South Korea as well as a blessing for neighboring countries. However, North Korea has long suspected that Seoul could be plotting to absorb Pyongyang, a claim denied by South Korea