North Korea calls on South Korea to improve ties

North Korea blamed South Korea Tuesday for its "confrontational acts," calling for efforts from the South "to create a mood" for improved inter-Korean ties, according to the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency. "The improvement of inter-Korean relations is crucial to deal with reunification matters from our perspective," the North said in an article carried out by the North's main newspaper Rodong Shinmun, which was monitored in Seoul. Pyongyang's call for better relations came five days after it rejected Seoul's offer to hold talks to discuss reunions of families separated by 1950-53 Korean War. The North rejected the proposal for talks, citing the Seoul-Washington annual joint military exercises due next month, among other reasons. According to the article, the North said priority to improve inter-Korean relations should be to stop slander and provocations against its counterpart, vowing "continued active efforts this year" for the goal. Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye called for a resumption of the reunions, one of the highly emotional issues for aging people between the two rival Koreas, around Lunar New Year's Day. Lunar New Year's Day, which falls on January 31st this year, is one of the biggest holidays in both Koreas, in which family members and relatives usually gather.