Unification minister calls on N. Korea to accept S. Korea's offer for dialogue channel

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Friday called on North Korea to respond to South Korea's offer for an official dialogue platform and resume suspended inter-Korean communication channels.

Kim made the call a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol proposed to North Korea the establishment of a working-level dialogue channel that can "take up any issue" in an address marking Liberation Day.

Yoon unveiled a vision for freedom-based unification with North Korea and pledged to expand the inflow of outside information into the North.

"As the president proposed the establishment of a dialogue channel between the two Koreas, (I) am calling on North Korea to accept it," Kim told a press briefing.

The minister said South Korea is open to discussing any topics, including North Korea's denuclearization, humanitarian issues and inter-Korean exchanges.

"To this end, the inter-Korean liaison communication line and the military hotlines that North Korea unilaterally suspended should be resumed," he said.

Yoon's unification vision came in an update to the government's unification formula unveiled in 1994 that calls for the pursuit of reconciliation and cooperation, the creation of a Korean commonwealth and the completion of a unified country. (Yonhap)