SEOUL, April 7 (Reuters) - South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday that North Korea's rare conciliatory response to President Lee Jae Myung’s expression of regret over drone incursions marked "meaningful progress" toward easing military tensions.
Lee's government has been seeking to reverse a sharp deterioration in ties between the neighbours, which remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
Seoul will maintain its principle of refraining from any hostile acts toward North Korea while continuing its policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean peninsula, the ministry, which manages ties between the Koreas, said in a statement.
The ministry was responding to remarks carried on Monday by North Korea's KCNA state news agency, in which Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang regarded Lee's apology over drone incursions and pledge to prevent a recurrence as "very fortunate and wise," language that contrasted with years of sharp rhetoric.
Still, she said Seoul should "refrain from any attempt at contact" toward North Korea.
President Lee on Monday expressed regret to Pyongyang for unnecessary military tensions caused by multiple drone incursions into North Korean airspace, which he said were carried out by civilians acting against government policy.
He said an investigation found a National Intelligence Service employee and an active-duty military official were involved, calling the incidents violations of South Korea's own constitution.
According to South Korean media, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said on Tuesday that Lee's decision to convey regret reflected his firm will to ease military tensions and restore trust, adding that the president had ordered the message after receiving a briefing on the probe's findings.
Pyongyang has in recent years labelled South Korea its "most hostile state" and said it would no longer seek reunification, framing inter-Korean relations as ties between two hostile states rather than a divided nation.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said North Korea's response amounted to a controlled acceptance of Lee's remarks, cautioning that South Korea was still firmly cast as a hostile state and that any easing of tensions would be aimed at managing the situation, not softening Pyongyang's hardline two-state framework.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok ShimEditing by Ed Davies)
