The proposals have enjoyed full support from all Koreans at home and abroad, as they reflect the desire for the improved inter-Korean relations and peaceful reunification.

It is a consistent stand of the DPRK to improve the inter-Korean relations.

The DPRK has long made all possible efforts to put an end to the national division and achieve reconciliation and cooperation between the north and the south.

The Joint Conference of Representatives of Political Parties and Social Organizations in North and South Korea, held in Pyongyang soon after the country's liberation from the Japanese colonial rule, was a historic national gathering aimed at attaining the nation's great unity under the banner of patriotism and reunification, in order to save the destiny of the country and the nation.

In the early 1970s, the DPRK set forth a proposal clarifying its willingness to make contacts anytime with political parties, organizations and individuals in south Korea.

Since the proposal drew support from ruling and opposition parties and the broad masses of south Korea, a dialogue took place between the north and the south, which led to the release of the July 4 Joint Statement, the keynote of which is the three principles of national reunification -- independence, peaceful reunification and the great national unity.

In the 1980s, the DPRK suggested a proposal on holding a north-south political consultative meeting, to be attended by leading personages who could represent political parties, groups and people of various strata in the north and the south.

The June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and the October 4 Declaration, adopted in the 2000s, are the fruition of the DPRK's positive efforts for making dialogues and negotiations.

Even though an acute situation prevails on the Korean Peninsula, the DPRK has advanced a wave of reasonable proposals aimed at repairing the inter-Korean relations.

Improved north-south relations are imperative to easing a tense situation on the Korean Peninsula and paving a way for reconciliation and cooperation.

Only when all Koreans in the north, the south and abroad pool their effort under the banner of By Our Nation Itself, can they see an atmosphere favorable to realizing the independent reunification.