South Korea’s Lee calls for efforts to ease tensions with North Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday called for making efforts to reduce tensions with North Korea.

"We must be patient and spare no efforts to preemptively and proactively ease hostilities between Seoul and Pyongyang, Lee said at a policy briefing by the ministries of foreign affairs and unification, according to the Yonhap news agency.

He said that while the two Koreas have confronted each other since the Korean War in the 1950s, it is the first time North Korea has installed triple layers of barbed wire and barriers along the Military Demarcation Line and cut roads and bridges connecting it to South Korea.

Addressing concerns in South Korea about any potential North Korean attack, Lee said: "The reality appears to be the opposite."

Lee warned that Pyongyang's rhetoric-defining the two Koreas as "two hostile states" and labeling South Korea an "enemy"-appears driven by political ambitions and must be addressed to normalize inter-Korean relations.

Despite North Korea's current refusal to engage, he urged continued patience, saying tensions can only be reduced and trust rebuilt by not giving up.

Earlier this month, Lee also reiterated his call for North Korea to restore communication channels, saying: "The historic task given to us is to end hostility and confrontation between the two Koreas and to build a new inter-Korean relationship based on peaceful existence."