South Korea Open To Summit With North Korea Without Any Preconditions

South Korea has dramatically shifted its position regarding talks with North Korea, with President Park Geun-hye expressing willingness to sit with the North Korean leader in the negotiating table without preconditions.

"If an inter-Korean summit can help, I can do it," Park was quoted to have said during Monday's New Year's press conference by Korea Joonang Daily. "And I have no preconditions for the summit. But I believe genuine attitude and open-mindedness of the North is a must to resolve inter-Korean issues through dialogue."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said last month he was open to meeting Park directly, responding to South Korea's offer to resume high-level talks.

"Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, we have no reason not to hold the highest-level talks," The New York Times quoted Kim as saying.

Park said "she can meet anyone" to ease tensions with North Korea, emphasizing the need for talks as the clock ticks for aging Koreans who lost contact with their families during the Korean War.

Park proposed in her address that separated families be reunited before the Lunar New Year holidays next month, saying: "I expect the North to accept this proposal with an open mind."

South Korea has asked the North to make reunions regular and free from political tensions. "This is a matter we can no longer delay, given the advanced ages of those surviving separated family members," said Park.

She also proposed that both Koreas jointly commemorate the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from the Japanese colonial rule.

Despite having no preconditions for the dialogue, Park maintained that the North's nuclear arms program should be resolved.

"For example, denuclearization [of the North] is not a precondition, but we cannot talk about peaceful unification without resolving this," Park continued. "I believe this issue should be resolved through talks between the two Koreas and through multilateral consultations."

The South previously required the North's denuclearization for a dialogue to take place.

Park also hinted a change in the government's earlier stance that it cannot restrain the freedom of expression of its citizens after she said the government "sometimes" urge the country's activists to stop sending opposition leaflets over the border through balloons.

"The government is making some adjustments," Park said. "Freedom of expression is the people's basic right. Although civic groups need to act autonomously, the safety of the residents [along the inter-Korean border] must not be threatened. We are trying to coordinate the two aspects and sometimes ask the activists to refrain from their activities. I believe we can continue to manage the situation wisely."

The so-called May 24 sanctions-- a ban on all inter-Korean economic and personal exchanges with the exception of a joint factory park -- may also be lifted, with Park saying inter-Korean talks must be held to deal with such.

The ban was imposed by South Korea on the North in 2010 when its navy corvette sank near the disputed western maritime border allegedly because of a torpedo attack by the latter, killing 46 South Korean sailors.

"We have made numerous requests to the North to have talks, but strangely the North has acted very passively and did not accept our offer," Park said. "Whether it is about the summit or the May 24 measures, the two Koreas' government officials should first meet to have candid talks on what each other wants and find mutual ground. I would like to tell the North that it must respond to our talks offers more actively."