The Unification Ministry says North Korea has strong intentions to improve ties with South Korea and showed that it could take unprecedented bold steps if deemed necessary. 

The ministry made the assessment in a statement released on Sunday on North Korea’s high-level delegation to the South which included the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam and the younger sister of the North’s leader, Kim Yo-jong.

The ministry noted that for the first time since the division of the Korean Peninsula, the North’s nominal head of state and a member of the North’s Kim family set foot in South Korea. 

The ministry assessed that with the delegation’s visit, a breakthrough has been provided to peacefully resolve peninsula issues. However, it added that the two Koreas stand at odds over ways to address the North’s nuclear issue and that tangible progress has yet to be made in denuclearizing the peninsula. 

The ministry said that if certain headway is made in making the peninsula nuclear-free, active progress could be yielded in inter-Korean relations.