Former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won has urged the two Koreas to exchange special envoys to maintain inter-Korean channels for dialogue and establish bilateral trust.

Lim, who played a key role in arranging the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000, made the remarks Friday at the third Jeju Peace Forum.

He called the 2000 summit a starting point of peace and progress towards ending conflict and the standoff on the Korean Peninsula.

He said peace on the peninsula mainly relies on US policy on Northeast Asia, but Seoul should focus on diplomatically resolving the nuclear issue and normalizing strained US ties for a permanent peace.