North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said he is open to “highest level talks” with neighbors South Korea on Thursday, urging the two countries to mend their adversarial relationship.
“We should write a new history in North-South ties,” Kim said in his New Year broadcast on state television, according to AFP. “There is no reason not to hold the highest-level talks.”
The offer to hold talks between the two nations was floated a few days earlier by South Korea’s minister in charge of inter-Korean affairs Ryoo Kihl-Jae, who proposed January as a tentative date.
There have been no formal talks between the two countries since February 2014. An agreement to resume dialogue in October following a North Korean delegation’s visit to the South for the Asian Games was soon set aside following renewed border clashes.
[AFP]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Cybersecurity Experts Are Sounding the Alarm on DOGE
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Michelle Zauner Stares Down the Darkness
Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com