Pyongyang calls for end to inter-Korean confrontation

(Photo: AFP)


A day ahead of South Korea's presidential election, Pyongyang on Monday called for an end to the history of inter-Korean confrontation, a media report said.

"The tragic North-South Korea relations today have been wrought by the conservative groups which, having been in power for the past 10 years, revived the foregone period of confrontation and maximised the political and military rivalry between the same race," Pyongyang's ruling party daily, Rodong Sinmun, said in the report.

"Our people's yearning for peace has been mercilessly trodden by the conservative groups, manic followers of confrontation," Yonhap News Agency quoted the North Korean daily as saying. 

"The history of inter-Korean confrontation, led by the conservatives, should be put to an end and a new era of unification should open up in collaboration between our race .. To that end, the conservative groups' scheme to seize power again should be resolutely shattered."

The column is in line with the North Korean regime's repeated attempts to influence the presidential election, according to South Korean officials. 

On Tuesday, South Korea will vote to pick a new President to replace Park Geun-hye who was removed from office in March over corruption charges.

The latest opinion poll showed Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party leading the race by a wide margin.