Seoul renews call for dialogue with North Korea

South Korea Monday renewed call for resuming dialogue with North Korea after its offer to hold talks in January failed to bear positive result.

If North Korea really has a will to resolve pending issues and improve inter-Korean relations, it should come to the dialogue table, Xinhua quoted South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol as saying.

The renewed appeal came after Seoul's proposal for talks failed, with no response coming from Pyongyang until January-end.

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae December-end proposed to hold ministerial-level talks with North Korean counterparts in January to discuss all issues of mutual concern irrespective of the form of dialogue.

South Korea wants discussions on having a reunion event for Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, hoping the event could be held around the Lunar New Year holiday falling in mid-February, 2015.

Pyongyang, however, has remained unresponsive about the dialogue offer, saying that if South Korea lifts sanctions against the country, it will respond to call for the reunion event.