North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech.
The address by Mr Kim, who took over power after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers.
But North Korea has offered olive branches before and Mr Kim's speech does not necessarily signify a change in tack from a country which vilifies the US and South Korea at every chance it gets.
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