SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol offered on Thursday to establish a working-level consultative body with North Korea to discuss ways to ease tension and resume economic cooperation, as he laid out his vision on unification of the neighbours.

In his National Liberation Day speech marking the 79th anniversary of independence from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule after World War II, Yoon said he was ready to begin political and economic cooperation if North Korea “takes just one step” toward denuclearisation.

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Yoon said launching the “inter-Korean working group” could help relieve tensions and handle any issues ranging from economic cooperation to people-to-people exchanges to reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

“We will begin political and economic cooperation the moment North Korea takes just one step toward denuclearisation,” he said.

“Dialogue and cooperation can bring about substantive progress in inter-Korean relations.”