Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK in his New Year Address for 2019 said that inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges should be expanded and developed in an all-round way so that national reconciliation and unity can be consolidated and all the fellow countrymen can practically benefit from improved north-south relations.
For the present, we are willing to resume the Gaeseong Industrial Park and Mt. Geumgang tourism without any precondition and in return for nothing, in consideration of the hard conditions of businesspersons of the south side who had advanced into the Gaeseong Industrial Park and the desire of southern compatriots who are eager to visit the nation’s celebrated mountain, he said.
To expand and develop inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges in an all-round way is an important demand to promote and consolidate national rapprochement and unity.
The north and the south could deepen the understanding and trust and join minds and efforts for the realization of goal common to the nation through inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges. In this course the national unity would be promoted.
It is an essential issue that the Korean nation practically benefits from improved inter-Korean relations.
When north and south join hands firmly and rely on the united strength of the fellow countrymen, no external sanctions and pressure, challenges and trials will be able to hinder us in our efforts to open a broad avenue to national prosperity.
Last year the north and the south took the significant first step towards common prosperity of the nation by promoting cooperation projects in various fields including railways, road, forestry and public health to delight the Korean nation while resolutely overcoming manifold obstacles and difficulties.
The business groups including the Pan-national Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation welcomed Chairman Kim Jong Un’s new year address and clarified their attitude to push ahead inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges.
The north and the south should not pass up the favorable atmosphere of today when all the nationals’ interest in and aspiration for reunification are growing unprecedentedly, but strive to expand and develop inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges in an all-round way true to patriotic intention of Chairman Kim Jong Un.
