Unification minister calls for patience in dealing with N. Korea

South Korea's point man on North Korea called Monday for patience in creating conditions to bring Pyongyang back to the dialogue table amid heightened tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. North Korea has launched thousands of trash-carrying balloons since late May in a tit-for-tat response against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors in the South. In response, South Korea conducted anti-Pyongyang broadcasts through its border loudspeakers in full-scale for the ninth consecutive day Monday. "It is important to continuously and patiently work toward creating conditions for dialogue with North Korea," Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said in a message marking his one-year anniversary since taking office. Kim, a former conservative professor, is known for his hard-line stance toward North Korea and for being a vocal advocate of human rights. North Korea has been focusing on erasing unification references since its leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as those between two states hostile to each other. Source: Yonhap News Agency