The News Minute | January 1, 2015 | 6:35 pm IST

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday called on South Korea to halt all provocative war manoeuvres and emphasised that there was no reason not to hold highest-level north-south talks in a televised New Year's speech.

The year 2015 will mark a turning point for blazing a path toward independent reunification of the Korean nation, he noted, Xinhua reported.

Despite huge changes that have taken place around the world over the past seven decades, the Korean nation is still suffering the pains of separation and such a tragedy cannot be tolerated any more, Kim said.

He said the North Korea has made every sincere effort to try to ameliorate inter-Korean relations in 2014, but only to face worsened ties between north and south because of interference from internal and external forces against national reunification.

Kim underscored the need to remove the threat of war, ease tension and create a peaceful environment on the Korean Peninsula.

As annual large-scale war exercises in South Korea exacerbate tensions and bring danger of a nuclear war, Seoul should stop all war provocations, in particular reckless military exercises jointly conducted with foreign forces, he said.

IANS