Pyongyang calls for advancement of relations with ROK

Both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea should value the spirit of the agreement advancing inter-Korean relations that was reached during recent negotiations, a senior DPRK official has said.

"It was very fortunate that the recent contact helped to defuse the danger of the touch-and-go situation ... and offered an opportunity of a dramatic change in achieving peace, stability, reconciliation and cooperation between the North and the South," Kim Yang-gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea told the official KCNA news agency on Thursday.

"We are pleased over the fact that the two sides sat face to face ... had an exhaustive discussion to reach an agreement on issues of common concern, thus opening up an epochal phase for turning misfortune into blessings in DPRK-ROK relations," he added.