President Park Geun-hye on Thursday proposed the reunions of separated families and the establishment of a peace park in the heavily-fortified border area in her Liberation Day address marking the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

President Park proposed family reunions around the Chuseok holiday on Sept. 19. She said the envisioned peace park in the DMZ would “lay the foundation for trust, harmony and cooperation” on the Korean Peninsula.

Park’s proposals came a day after the two sides reached a deal to normalize the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong. Park said she hoped the agreement on the Gaeseong complex would lead to a new chapter in inter-Korean relations.

She reiterated the importance of a change on the part of the communist regime in the North in going beyond the era of confrontation to achieve peace and, ultimately, reunification on the Korean Peninsula.

As for the conflict-laden Korea-Japan relations, Park noted that Japan’s distortion of history is “darkening the outlook” and urged Japan to face up to history and take responsibility for the colonial rule victims.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)