North Korea said in a statement on Friday that its leader, Kim Jong-un, is willing to keep up efforts to improve relations with South Korea.

The statement, issued by the North's foreign ministry and cited by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, said it is Kim Jong-un's resolution to actively work toward bettering the bilateral relationship with Seoul.

The report said Kim stresses that Korean unification should be achieved by the Korean people themselves in a way that rejects foreign forces.

It also criticized Seoul's unification policy, saying the unification that the Park Geun-hye administration wants is similar to what happened in Germany -- a unification by absorption that is confrontational and against peace.