South Korea pushing for greater exchange with North

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye pushed for greater exchange with North Korea after Seoul and Pyongyang reached a landmark deal to defuse tensions at the border.

Park said Tuesday the two sides can move toward peace and eventual unification if the agreement reached last week is honored, Yonhap reported.

"If the recent agreement is correctly observed, the vicious cycle of tensions of the last 70 years could be broken, and we can move toward a path of cooperation for peace and unification on the Korean peninsula," Park said Tuesday, according to South Korean television network SBS.

The first step to improved relations is the resumption of family reunions – hundreds of thousands of Koreans on both sides of the divide have been separated since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice.

Many of the family members are aging, and the upcoming reunion tentatively scheduled for Sept. 27 could be their last opportunity to meet with relatives.

Park said the reunion could open a door to regular meetings between family members – a statement that reaffirmed a commitment agreed upon last week between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Seoul's relations with Pyongyang are improving in what many see as a remarkable turnaround after weeks of tensions at the border, and the South Korean president is traveling on Wednesday to China to attend an anniversary parade in Beijing – and to meet with her China counterpart Xi Jinping.

Seoul and Beijing have steadily improved relations since Park assumed office, and the cordial relationship between Park and Xi underscores the strong trade ties between the two countries, The Wall Street Journal reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will not be in attendance at the events and instead Kim's aide Choi Ryong Hae is confirmed to be the representative of Pyongyang's leadership.

Kim has yet to meet with the Chinese president since fully assuming power in 2012.