The South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has made a surprise move to improve relations with North Korea.
In his National Liberation Day speech on Thursday, Yoon proposed setting up a working-level advisory body to discuss ways to ease tensions and resume economic cooperation.
“If North Korea embarks on the path of denuclearization, we will immediately begin political and economic cooperation,” Yoon said on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule. The president stressed the willingness to cooperate should North Korea take “just one step” toward nuclear disarmament.
South Korea’s move aims to improve the long-stalled relations between the two neighboring countries and reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula. Experts see the offer as an important initiative to revive dialogue between North and South Korea.