North Korea offers new year olive branch
North Korea said it is committed to a Korean peninsula without nuclear weapons and wants to improve relations with rival South Korea.
But the country also is vowing to boost its military strength.
The North’s annual New Year’s message comes in the wake of its deadly artillery attack on a front-line South Korean island near the Koreas’ disputed western sea border.
The message in the official state press today said confrontation between the two Koreas should be defused as early as possible.
It called for a more determined campaign to improve inter-Korean relations and reunify the country.
But the North also says the military “should conduct intense combat training in an atmosphere of actual battle as required by the tense situation”.
