“An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the North and the South,” Kim said in a New Year’s message.
“The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war,” he said.
The message came just weeks after the election of the conservative Park Geun-Hye as South Korea’s new president and coincided with UN Security Council discussions on how to punish North Korea for its recent long-range rocket launch.
The voiced message was the first of its kind since Kim’s grandfather and North Korean founder Kim Il-Sung delivered one in 1994, the year of his death.
Kim Jong-Un, who took power after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il on December 17, 2011, also said 2013 would be a year of “great creations and changes in which a radical turnabout will be effected.”
“'Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space!’ -- this is the fighting slogan our Party and people should uphold this year,” he said.