South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the country’s nuclear weapons program wouldn’t be an obstacle to holding the first Korean summit since 2007.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has said she is prepared to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without setting pre-conditions.
In a nationally televised press conference, she said she would "meet with anyone if necessary to open the path of a peaceful unification".
Mr Kim offered talks if the conditions were right in his new year message.
“There are no preconditions,” including nuclear disarmament, for a summit between the two countries, Park said Monday at a televised news conference, warning Kim should drop his nuclear pursuit in order to achieve an eventual unification. Park also urged the North Korean leader to agree to resume the reunions of families that remain separated more than 60 years after the end of the civil war that left the peninsula divided.
Relations on the Korean Peninsula have been complicated by Pyongyang’s push to develop nuclear weapons and its threats to use them against Seoul. In recent months there have been some signs of easing tensions. In October, North Korea sent three members of Kim’s inner circle to meet with Park’s chief security adviser. That led to the first talks between their military generals since 2007.
