NK leader calls for better ties with South

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers the country’s first New Year’s address since 1994 in Pyongyang, Monday, in this screen capture from North Korean state television. (Photo : Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emphasized improved inter-Korean relations during a rare New Year’s address, Tuesday, and vowed to spur “radical” improvements in his country’s outdated economy.

In the first such address since 1994, when Kim’s late grandfather Kim Il-sung spoke, the young leader urged Seoul to reaffirm its commitment to previous inter-Korean declarations. Analysts said the gesture was aimed at the incoming administration of Park Geun-hye, who has offered a return to dialogue.

“All Korean compatriots in the North, South and abroad should launch a dynamic struggle to carry out to the letter the June 5 Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration,” Kim said during the speech aired on the official Korean Central News Agency shortly after 9:00 a.m.

The leader, though to be turning 30 next week, urged the sides to put front and center “the great national cause of reunifying the country…by holding fast to the ideals of independence, peace and friendship.” He added it was important to “remove confrontation” to end the division of the peninsula.

The language, a major turn from the menacing rhetoric against the outgoing Lee Myung-bak administration, signaled that the regime may test Park’s offer for dialogue. Such a move is seen as a step to ease the isolation that is a major stumbling block to Pyongyang’s development drive.

The leader said the country’s task was to “build an economic giant,” adding, “economic undertakings for this year should be geared toward a radical increase in production, and stabilizing and improving the people’s living standards.”

Kim’s statement was “very interesting,” Sejong Institute analyst Paik Hak-soon said. “North Korea has a new leader in place and there are leadership changes in the region. “In order to improve relations with the outside world, the first thing it has to do is stabilize the Korean Peninsula situation.”

Tensions remain high, however, following the country’s successful Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch that was widely regarded a ballistic missile test. Seoul and Washington are pushing for international censure of the move, which breached U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Kim reiterated Pyongyang’s position that the launch was solely to put a satellite into orbit and tied the feat to a “high level of space science and technology, and overall power of Juche Korea,” referring to the country’s “self reliance” ideology. Paik said the remark reaffirmed the regime’s drive to prioritize the technology sector as an engine for economic improvement.

The message itself was a major departure from the style of Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, who died in late 2011. The mercurial dictator instead released a joint New Year’s message in newspapers that served as a guideline for future direction.

The televised speech fell in line with other moves by Kim to emulate his grandfather, who was more gregarious and popular with the people.

In a similar move, state media reported that Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju attended a musical performance by the country’s Moranbong Band in Pyongyang at midnight, also attended by foreign diplomats and high-ranking officials.

“Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju shook hands with diplomatic envoys, representatives of international organizations and military attaches of foreign embassies here and their wives, offering congratulations and best wishes, and talked with them,” KCNA said.

The country has taken small steps to modernize since Kim took over including sprucing up the capital city, diversifying consumption opportunities there, and emphasizing information technology.

While the leader said agriculture would be the key sector in the coming year, he did not mention anticipated reforms that would ditch the North’s rationing system and offer new incentives for workers.

Analysts speculate, however, that Pyongyang may feel more confident in the security realm following its recent long-range rocket launch, perhaps opening the door for dialogue with its neighbors in the future. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>