< This is an excerpt from the New Year Policy Address to the Nation delivered by President Lee Myung-bak on January 2, 2008>
Global Diplomacy and South-North Relations Will Be Pushed in a Mature Manner
South-North relations should be resolved smoothly with a more flexible and mature attitude. Last year marked the 60th anniversary of national division. It is about time the South and North overcame confrontation and conflict and opened a new age of cooperative coexistence and coprosperity. I hope that North Korea will be able to read the change of the times and forge ahead with us for a bright future.
I am willing to engage in dialogue with the North at any time and am ever ready to cooperate with it as a partner. It is my earnest wish that the North will unshackle itself from old, outmoded tactics of instigating conflict within the South and will come forward with a cooperative attitude.
