Excerpts from Kim Yong Sung's Report

In a move that could signal a thaw on the Korean Peninsula, the DPRK on Feb. 3 offered to hold wide-ranging talks with south Korea "with a view to preventing the imminent danger of war and bringing about a radical phase for national reunification this year.”

The proposal to hold inter-Korean “high-level talks” was raised at a meeting of the government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK.

Secretary Kim Yong Sung of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a report at the meeting that the proposed talks would focus on “the immediate problems arising in inter-Korean relations including the issue of cooperation and exchange and the issue of alleviating the sufferings of the separated families and relatives.”

However, he stressed that the talks should be preceded by south Korea’s elimination of National Security Law and joint military exercises with foreign forces.

It was Pyongyang’s first offer of dialogue with the new south Korean government with the chief executive Kim Dae Jung.

"It is a very positive sign, and we are seriously studying the proposal," a south Korean reunification ministry official was quoted as saying by the AFP.

The proposal was delivered on the same day in the form of letters through the truce village of Panmunjom to 150 south Korean business leaders and political officials.

They are; south Korean President Kim Dae Jung;

Prime Minister Kim Jong Pil;Acting President of the National Congress for New Politics Jo Se Hyong;President of the United liberal Democrats Pak Thae Jun;

President of the Grand National Party Ri Hoe Chang;

Representative of the Progressive Party of Youths Choe Hyok;

Chairman of the South Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification Kang Hui Nam and 14 personages of pro-reunification movement organizations;

Chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Ri Kap Yong and 6 personages of labor movement organizations;