Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has again urged North Korea to accept South Korea’s calls for dialogue without preconditions.

The minister on Wednesday made the remarks during an international forum at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

Ryoo said that if the North continues to insist on preconditions and avoid talks, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's plans announced in his New Year's speech would amount to nothing more than empty talk.

The minister reaffirmed that if the South’s economic sanctions against the North are lifted through inter-Korean talks, it could lead to broad and active cross-border exchanges.

He also said that the idea of a unified Korea could be spread throughout the entire Korean Peninsula using various cooperative projects such as the trans-peninsula train project and the cultural heritage preservation project.

The South Korean government proposed inter-Korean talks late last year. The North responded by insisting on preconditions for holding dialogue, demanding that the South prohibit civic groups from launching anti-Pyongyang leaflet and joint military exercises with the United States.