ROK leader proposes liaison offices with DPRK

SEOUL: The president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) proposed yesterday that his country and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) each set up a liaison office in the other's capital to break the impasse in their strained relations and facilitate dialogue between the rival states, an official said.

President Lee Myung-bak's overture came days after the DPRK said in its New Year's message that it was committed to improving ties with the ROK. The positive messages from both sides suggest their relationship could move forward after two tension-filled years.

"We have to come up with a new turning point in South-North relations," Lee said in his nationally televised New Year's address. "I urge North Korea to return to" stalled international nuclear disarmament talks to help "open the floodgate in inter-Korean cooperation," he said.