"If the North exhibits sincerity, we have both the will and the plan to drastically enhance economic cooperation together with the international community."

Two days after Pyongyang called for improved relations with its neighbor Seoul in 2011, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak responded on Monday saying his country was open to talks and offering closer economic ties despite high tensions on the peninsula.


In his New Year policy address, Lee also urged the North to abandon its "military adventurism."
Lee held out hopes for improved ties, saying the door for talks between the Koreas was "still open".
"If the North exhibits sincerity, we have both the will and the plan to drastically enhance economic cooperation together with the international community," he said.


"The North must come to the realization that nothing can be gained through military adventurism.... Nuclear weapons and military adventurism must be discarded," he added.


The North, in a joint New Year editorial of state media on Saturday, said tensions "should be defused as early as possible," stressing dialogue and cooperation "should be promoted proactively."
"This year we should launch a more determined campaign to improve inter-Korean relations," the editorial added.


Relations between the two Koreas were strained this year after a South Korean navy sank in the disputed area of the Yellow Sea in March 26, with 46 sailors drowned.
The South accused the North for being responsible for the attack, as the North denied any relation to the incident.


On November 23, relations between the two neighbors reached the maximum as the North shelled a South Korean island, killing two marines and two civilians.
The incident witnessed the first civilians shelling since the Korean War between the years of 1950 and 1953.


In December, the impoverished North warned it was ready for a "sacred war" using its nuclear weapons as the South held a live-fire drill in a show of strength.