The South Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration said it is four years since the step was taken, derailing the south-north relations.

The step amounting to an unjustifiable confrontational measure escalated the stand-off between the south and the north, encroaching upon the interests to be brought about by the south-north economic cooperation and inflicting huge damage on south Korean businesses and the people, it noted.

It called on Park Geun Hye to lift the step symbolic of confrontational policy and opt for unification, though belatedly.

The Council for the Peaceful Unification of Tangun's Nation grouping more than 120 organizations in a statement said the "May 24 step" is a product of the wrong policy of the Lee Myung Bak regime which sought confrontation with fellow countrymen.

The Park regime should lift the "May 24 step" for the sake of peace on the Korean peninsula and security of the people and positively opt for improving the south-north relations, the statement urged.