North Korean leader wants open talks with South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for talks with South Korea, dpa reported.

But he told South Korea to refrain from any acts that disturbed the "conciliatory atmosphere" in his new year address on Friday.

Pyongyang is ready for open-minded talks with anyone who wants peace and reunification, he said.

Kim's speech was broadcast by North Korean state television, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Talks between the two Koreas on steps to defuse tensions ended in mid-December without agreement.

An agreement to defuse tensions led in October to a series of reunions of families split across the North-South border.

North and South Korea remain in a technical state of war following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

Source: SPA