--- description: South Korean President Park Geun-hye says she’s willing to hold a summit with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un without any pre-conditions. title: South Korea Ready For Talks With North image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c95b151d5f8d56d/698779595f570f2de5b14a16/president-park.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [South Korea](/tag/south-korea/) ## South Korea Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # South Korea's President Will Hold Talks With the North Without Conditions by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2015 5:53 AM CUT  South Korean President Park Geun-Hye speaks during her New Year press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Jan. 12, 2015. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye speaks during her New Year press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Jan. 12, 2015.Jung Yeon-Jemdash — AFP/Getty Images by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 12, 2015 5:53 AM CUT South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced during a nationally televised address on Monday that she’s willing to hold a summit with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un without any pre-conditions. “My position is that to ease the pain of division and to accomplish peaceful unification, I am willing to meet with anyone,” said Park. “If it is helpful, I am up for a summit meeting with the North. There is no pre-condition.” Park’s pledge follows similar overtures made by Kim Jong Un during his New Year’s address. “Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks,” [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/world/asia/north-korea-leader-seeks-meeting-with-south.html "undefined") Kim. Since the war between Seoul and Pyongyang was suspended by an armistice in 1953, South Korea’s and North Korea’s leaders have only met on two occasions — in 2000 and 2007. \[[Al-Jazeera](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2015/01/south-korean-leader-open-summit-with-north-201511214552617775.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3663383/south-korean-north-korea-talks-park-geun-hye-kim-jong-un/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3663383/south-korean-north-korea-talks-park-geun-hye-kim-jong-un/"},"headline":"South Korea's President Will Hold Talks With the North Without Conditions","datePublished":"2015-01-12T05:53:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:28:55.875Z","description":"The pledge follows recent overtures made by Kim Jong Un","url":"https://time.com/3663383/south-korean-north-korea-talks-park-geun-hye-kim-jong-un/","keywords":["South Korea","North Korea","Kim Jong Un","pyongyang","Korean War","Seoul"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c95b151d5f8d56d/698779595f570f2de5b14a16/president-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c95b151d5f8d56d/698779595f570f2de5b14a16/president-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SKOREA-POLITICS-PARK","caption":"SKOREA-POLITICS-PARK","creditText":"Jung Yeon-Jemdash — AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/south-korea/","name":"South Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3663383/south-korean-north-korea-talks-park-geun-hye-kim-jong-un/","name":"South Korea's President Will Hold Talks With the North Without Conditions"}}]}] ```