A pro-North Korean newspaper published in Japan reported Wednesday that Pyongyang's call for implementing last year's inter-Korean summit declaration was a message to South Korea's incoming Lee Myung-bak administration.

The Choson Shinbo was referring to North Korea's New Year's joint editorial that urged the two Koreas to thoroughly implement the October 4, 2007 Joint Declaration to create a new history of peace and prosperity.

The paper also said that Pyongyang will build its foreign policy for the New Year on the axis of self-reliance through South-North cooperation. It also stressed inter-Korean cooperation in seeking a three- or four-way summit to declare the official end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The paper added that there is no question about North Korea's commitment to implementing the agreements reached at the six-party talks on ending the communist country's nuclear program.