PYONGYANG, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday called on all Korean people to promote the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

    "The Korean Peninsula has entered the phase of reconciliation and cooperation since the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration was published in 2000," the leading official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the joint declaration.

    "Reunification movement has become the national movement participated in by all Korean people from different classes," said Rodong Sinmun.

    Inter-Korean relations have warmed considerably since former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung paid a historic visit to Pyongyang for the first-ever inter-Korean summit with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-il in June 2000.

    During the visit, the DPRK and South Korea published the North-South Joint Declaration, regarded as a milestone in the inter-Korean history as it paved the way for peaceful cooperation and exchanges between the two sides in various areas.

    The editorial also said the DPRK and South Korea will reunite although they have differences over ideology and systems.

    "All the Korean peoples in the north and the south and overseas should get rid of the consciousness of division and confrontation to achieve national independent reunification," it said. Enditem