The North Korean Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration has proposed to its South Korean counterpart holding an inter-Korean event marking the 13th anniversary of the signing of the declaration.

In a fax sent Wednesday, the North Korean committee offered to hold a joint ceremony in Gaeseong or Mount Geumgang in the North to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the adoption of the June 15th Joint Declaration.

The South Korean committee hailed the North’s offer, saying it plans to actively respond to the proposal in consideration of situations both at home and abroad. Later in the day, the South Korean committee said it made an internal decision to push for the plan to host the event in Gaeseong, as proposed by its North Korean counterpart.

An official of the South Korean committee said the North apparently proposed Gaeseong as a possible venue for the inter-Korean event to indirectly express its determination to revive operations at the suspended Gaeseong Industrial Complex. The official said the committee hopes Seoul will actively cooperate on the joint event, explaining in order to realize the plan government officials of both Koreas need to hold consultations, including talks on restoring military hotlines.

A Unification Ministry official said that the government wants to avoid any unnecessary controversy amid current inter-Korean relations. The official said the South will thus first examine the nature and results of the previous joint-events before giving an answer to the South Korean committee.

The two Koreas held the event marking the signing of the June 15th Joint Declaration every year at Mount Geumgang from the year after the 2000 South-North summit until the first year of the Lee Myung-bak administration in 2008.

The event was suspended after South-North ties soured when a South Korean tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier at Mount Geumgang in July 2008.