"Now is an opportune time to open a new kind of future on the Korean Peninsula," Lee said in an address to commemorate the 92nd anniversary of the March 1 popular uprising against Japan's colonial rule of Korea. "We are ready to engage in dialogue with the North anytime with an open mind."

   Lee called on the North to seek dialogue and cooperation, instead of nuclear weapons and missiles, and choose the path of genuine reconciliation and cooperation by taking responsibility for its military provocations last year -- a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship and an artillery barrage on a border island.

   "Peaceful unification is the way to complete the work of independence and national survival that our ancestors aspired for so fervently 92 years ago today," he said. "We urge North Korea to join the new wave of peace and common prosperity in Northeast Asia as well."

    In the televised speech, however, the conservative president dropped his typically strong tone warning of tough retaliation against any future attacks, a sign that his government is serious about efforts to ease protracted tensions on the peninsula.

   Agitated by a cross-border inflow of helium balloons carrying anti-North Korean messages and an ongoing large-scale joint military training exercise by South Korea and the United States, Pyongyang has unleashed threats of "all-out war" and turning the South into a "sea of fire." It threatened to take a direct shot at the South's "psychological warfare" facilities near the border.

   Lee expressed optimism for the fate of a unified Korea.

   "One Korean nation and a unified territory will become a central pillar supporting peace in the world as well as in Northeast Asia," he said. "One Korea promises to be a viable hub of prosperity linking continents and oceans, the East and the West as well as the North and South on a global scale."

   He said the South will continue work to broaden the international consensus on the need to realize reunification, while bolstering financial and other capacities to deal with eventual reunification.

   The South Korean president, meanwhile, asked Tokyo again to take concrete measures to transcend the bitter history of the

1910-45 colonization and develop a new relationship with Seoul.

   He stressed Japan should show sincere action based on Prime Minister Naoto Kan's statement last year asserting Tokyo's will to improve ties with Seoul.

   "In this way, the two countries will be able to move forward together into the future instead of dwelling on the past," Lee said.

   On the economic front, he called for thorough crisis management as the country's economy faces growing uncertainties from the political turmoil in the Middle East, with oil prices rising sharply and consumer prices soaring. 

   He pointed out South Korea could overcome the 2008-09 global financial crisis faster than any other nation thanks to national unity.

   "It is time now again for us to go back to the same frame of mind and tackle the new challenge," Lee said.

   Lee pledged to step up efforts to create a "fair society" and elevate the country's standing in the international community. He has two more years left in office.

   Lee eyes a society where equal opportunity is given to everyone and people who work hard should be fairly rewarded.

   "I will do all I can to help the nation join the ranks of leading, advanced nations, continuing to serve the people with a humble attitude," Lee said.

(Yonhap News)