(Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called on Saturday for talks with North Korea to pursue peaceful coexistence, saying Seoul would seek safeguards to prevent conflict and noting the need to replace the peninsula's armistice with a "peace regime".
In a speech marking the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee said the two Koreas should hold a sit-down for coexistence.
He urged dialogue between North Korea and concerned parties to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which was stopped by a ceasefire, not a peace treaty, and said discussions could also explore effective measures to curb Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.
Lee said Seoul would take preemptive and sustained steps to ease tensions and build layered safeguards to contain escalation.
Lee's call largely builds on his pledge last year to respect North Korea's system and seek peaceful coexistence with Pyongyang.
Ties between North and South Korea remain frozen. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has abandoned Pyongyang's reunification policy, has described the South as its most hostile state and ordered stronger frontline defences.
North Korea has rebuffed Lee's engagement offers, criticised Seoul's plan for nuclear-powered submarines and denounced joint U.S.-South Korean military drills as provocations.
On relations with Japan, Lee called for confronting the past while leaving open the future, and said he hoped to launch a new 60 years of peace and prosperity with Japan as a "close neighbour".