Seoul urges Pyongyang to take path of 'peace, co-existence'

South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won urged North Korea Tuesday to come out of isolation and enter the path to "co-prosperity and permanent peace" on the Korean Peninsula.

In a speech at a ceremony marking the 63rd anniversary of the start of the tragic 1950-53 Korean War, Chung asked North Korea to join hands with South Korea in efforts to achieve co-prosperity of the Korean people.

"Security circumstances of the world's only divided country remain very grave," Chung said at the ceremony in Seoul. "North Korea should abandon its path of isolation and degeneration and take the path of permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, and co-existence and co-prosperity of the Korean people."

Calling on the people to remember what the war has taught, Chung stressed every effort "to have firmer awareness of national security and to strengthen national defense."

On hand at the ceremony were about 6,000 people, including government officials, war veterans from home and abroad, bereaved and separated families, and foreign diplomats stationed in South Korea.

The war ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, on July 27, 1953. North Korea and China signed the Korean Armistice Agreement with the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which represented South Korea.

There is no official record on how many lives were lost during the war, but historians say about 970,000 South Koreans, 1.7 million North Koreans, 150,000 U.N. forces, mostly Americans, and 900,000 Chinese died. The tragic incident also separated more than 10 million people.

"After 60 years of the cease-fire, most of the separated families live without knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead," Chung said, calling on Pyongyang to cooperate for their reunion.

"The Korean War is neither forgotten nor forgettable," he said. "The government will make the utmost efforts to protect our liberty and peace, and not to waste the lofty sacrifice of patriotic martyrs for the country."