The government is seeking to hold a variety of joint events with North Korea around August 15th this year.
The Ministry of Unification on Monday briefed President Park Geun-hye about its plan to propose the two Koreas form a joint committee to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonialism.
The ministry also revealed details of its plan to establish an inter-Korean railway, aiming to send South Korean officials on a trial-run to Pyongyang to attend joint events sometime in August.
The ministry said it also plans to establish "South-North culture centers" in the capital cities of the two Koreas and help people from both sides to find common ground before unification.
Identifying the envisioned centers as future hubs for inter-Korean cultural exchanges, the ministry said examples of cross-border cultural and art exchanges will be displayed, such as efforts to publish a jointly developed Korean-language dictionary and the Manwoldae Palace excavation project.
While laying out its friendly proposals, the ministry urged the North to come to the dialogue table to discuss the projects.
After receiving the policy briefing from the unification ministry, President Park urged her officials to raise the quality of inter-Korean exchanges in a way that benefits people’s lives on both sides of the border.
She also cited possible development cooperation projects such as forestation and environmental preservation as examples.
Political analysts welcomed the government’s move, seeing it as an indication that Seoul is moving to further engage the North. But, some pointed out that the South Korean government will have to come up with detailed plans to send a clearer signal about its friendly overture to Pyongyang.