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South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday to accept her proposal made last week to resume inter-Korean cooperation in non-political areas.
"Various cooperation projects were proposed to North Korea ( DPRK). It needs for the two Koreas to push first for small things step by step to build trust and follow the path of reunification together," Park said during a cabinet meeting, adding she was anticipating positive response from the DPRK.
Park made the proposal last Friday in a televised speech on the Liberation Day marking the 69th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
The proposal included cooperation in river and forest management, the start of infrastructure development in the DPRK and reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
She also invited the DPRK delegation to join the 12th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held in South Korea's Pyeongchang city later this year.
The three-week U.N. biodiversity conference with 20,000 attendees from 193 countries will run between Sept. 29 and Oct. 19, 2014.
It was unclear whether Pyongyang would accept the proposal as South Korea and the United States launched the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercise Monday despite the DPRK's strong opposition to it.
Combined forces of South Korea and the United States started the 12-day joint military exercise, mobilizing some 50,000 South Korean troops and 30,000 U.S. forces.
The South Korean military has claimed the drill is annually held and of defensive nature, but the DPRK denounced it as a rehearsal for the northward invasion.
