South Korean President Lee vows to swiftly restore dialogue channels with North Korea

Seoul, June 12 South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Thursday vowed to pursue a swift restoration of dialogue channels with North Korea, a day after his country halted loudspeaker broadcasts against the North in his first concrete measure to ease tensions with Pyongyang.

In a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the 2000 inter-Korean summit, Lee said he will "stop the exhausting hostilities" with North Korea and resume inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation.

"We will swiftly restore a crisis management system that prevents accidental clashes and avoids escalating tensions," Lee said.

"To that end, we will make efforts to quickly restore the suspended inter-Korean communication channels."

Still, it remains to be seen how North Korea will react to Lee's dialogue overture as Pyongyang has appeared to have little appetite for engagement with either Seoul or Washington amid its deepening alignment with Russia.

"I will make every effort to promote peace, coexistence and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," Lee said in the speech delivered on his behalf by Woo Sang-ho, Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs, during a commemorative event.

Lee praised the June 15 Declaration signed by former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the 2000 summit as a milestone that laid the groundwork for peace and pledged to uphold the spirit of the landmark agreement, Yonhap news agency reported.

"Let's transform the Korean Peninsula risk into a Korean Peninsula premium. That is the path forward for both the South and the North," he said.

Earlier, the South Korean military said that North Korea appears to have paused its broadcasts of loud noises toward South Korea on Thursday, a day after Seoul suspended its yearlong anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along the border.

"There were no areas where North Korea's loudspeaker broadcasts were detected Thursday," the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding it is closely monitoring related movements in North Korea.

The North's broadcasts of loud noises were last heard in the western border area late Wednesday night, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, President Lee had ordered the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts targeting North Korea in a move aimed at easing tensions and rebuilding trust, according to Yonhap news agency.

The presidential office also cited the need to ease the suffering of border area residents who have been severely affected by the noise, including the sounds of sirens and traditional drums.

Upon Lee's order, the military has halted its loudspeaker broadcasts in the border areas since 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

The suspension came a year after the military resumed the campaign for the first time in six years in June last year, under the former Yoon Suk Yeol government, in response to the North's repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border.

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