Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:19PM GMT
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak speaks during the 66th Independence Day ceremony in Seoul on August 15, 2011
South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak has called for North and South Korea to build mutual trust in order to open up an age of peace and cooperation on the divided peninsula.
President Lee made the remark during a Liberation Day speech on the 66th anniversary of his country's independence from Japanese colonial rule.
"Over the past 60 years, the South and North have lived in conflict. Now is the time to overcome it and open up an age of peace and cooperation," Lee said.
The two Koreas, which were divided shortly after the 1945 liberation, engaged in a three-year war beginning in 1950.
They are still technically at war as their conflict ended in a truce and not a peace treaty.
Tensions have also been running high on the Korean Peninsula since November 2010 when an exchange of artillery fire left four South Koreans dead on a border island.
The North accuses US President Barack Obama of plotting with regional allies to topple the country's government, insisting that its nuclear program is a deterrent against US forces in the region.
PM/JR
Posted in: NEWS
