Kim Jong Un open to talks

Kim Jong Un said Thursday he was ready to hold talks with arch rival South Korea.

"Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest level talks," Kim said, adding that his government would "make every effort to advance dialogue and negotiations."

Kim said naval exercises by the US and South Korea were the "source of heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula" and that they "increased the threat of nuclear war."

In his message to the nation, which appeared to be pre-recorded, Kim also outlined his government's plans to develop a series of economic and tourism zones, including the Kumgang Mountain resort which was open until 2008, when a South Korean tourist was shot.

Seoul responded to the message, saying that there was no change in its government's stance to "establish peace on the Korean peninsula by promoting trust between North and South through dialogue and exchange and the development of normal relations," according to Lim-Byeong-cheol, a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Unification, in an interview with Reuters.

The two countries are technically still at war with each other as the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

mg/cmk (dpa, AP, AFP)