The government plans to open inter-Korean economic liaison offices in Seoul and Pyongyang next year.

The missions will ultimately be upgraded to permanent representative status.

Other plans include legal measures to enable North Koreans to receive donations or inherit wealth from South Korean relatives even before unification.

The measures were announced Thursday in the government's inaugural Basic Plan on Developing Inter-Korean Ties for the next five years.

The plan says cross-border ties during that period should aim at "building peace on the Korean Peninsula and institutionalizing reconciliation and cooperation." To that end, it set seven strategic goals including denuclearization and establishment of an inter-Korean peace regime.

But experts are skeptical that the new North Korea policy measures can be implemented with only a few months left in the current administration.