DPRK leader calls for better ties with ROK

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), vowed on Wednesday to improve inter-Korean relations and strengthen military forces against any provocations.

The DPRK will "create atmosphere to ameliorate the relations between the DPRK and South Korea" by following previous inter-Korean joint declarations, he said in a televised New Year address.

Earlier in December, the DPRK threatened to attack South Korea without any notice in response to anti-Pyongyang rallies on the second anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il.

At the same time, Kim called for consolidating the DPRK's political and self-defense military might and vowed to "smash any provocation" to guard the country's dignity.

He warned that a massive nuclear disaster would be brought if an all-out war broke out on the peninsula, in which scenario the United States would not be safe either.

He also urged the whole party, military and people to unite in the "single-minded" spirit known as "following nobody, but only loyal to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il," after the execution of Jang Song Thaek, once a powerful senior official in the party, for his "anti-party and counter-revolutionary" crimes.

In the 30-minute message broadcast by the Korean Central TV, Kim reviewed achievements made last year and set forth tasks for 2014, which cover a broad range of areas like economic development, sports, education, infrastructure construction, national defense and external relations, according to the Korean Central Television.

He emphasized agriculture, light industries, coal-mining, electricity, rail transport and metallurgical industries, with a view to increasing output of quality consumer goods and promoting agricultural productivity.

It is the second year Kim has delivered a verbal New Year message, which offers clues to the DPRK's policies for the next year.

The New Year was celebrated with a midnight fireworks display in Pyongyang, along with the completion of Masik Pass ski resort located near the country's eastern coast city of Wonsan.

"The ski resort is a valuable fruition of the deep loving care shown (by the party) for the people to enable them to enjoy luxury and comfort under socialism," the official KCNA news agency quoted Choe Ryong Hae, the military's top political officer, as saying at the opening ceremony of the park on Tuesday.