Unification Minister Chung Dong-young pledged to consistently pursue active measures aimed at easing tensions and creating conditions to resume dialogue between the United States and North Korea.

In a congratulatory message at a forum in Seoul on Friday, Chung stressed the need to normalize relations between the North and the international community to make real progress in establishing a peace structure on the Korean Peninsula.

The minister said U.S. President Donald Trump has actively demonstrated his resolve to engage with the North, as Pyongyang has also suggested the possibility of resuming talks with Washington, adding that there is a strategic demand.

Chung also mentioned that Seoul, for its part, wants to build cross-border ties where the two Koreas coexist and grow together in a peaceful manner, making reference to the administration's reconciliatory gesture of halting anti-Pyongyang propaganda activity and propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts.