S Korea Official Denies Country Seeking Absorption of North to Unify Koreas

MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik) — South Korea does not seek to unify the two Koreas by the absorption of the North, a Seoul official said Tuesday.

"Our government is not seeking unification by abortion as the North claims," the Ministry of Unification's official was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

According to the Ministry of Unification official, Seoul seeks the unification in a "step-by-step manner, based on autonomy, peace and democracy."

The ministerial official also stressed that South Korea will not intervene in the campaign by local activists to send DVDs of the controversial US comedy "The Interview," depicting an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in balloons across the border.

Last week, North Korea's National Defense Commission issued a statement demanding that Seoul come up with a clear position on the recent anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns and so-called plan to absorb the North. Pyongyang has repeatedly accused Seoul of attempting to absorb the North since the inauguration of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye in February 2013.

The Korean Peninsula has been divided since the end of World War II. The divide was cemented at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which saw the peninsula split in half by a demilitarized zone. North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war as they have not signed a peace treaty but only reached a armistice.

The process towards Korean reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in 2000, where the two countries agreed to work toward a peaceful reunification in the future. However, this process has been met with many difficulties due to ongoing tension between the two countries.