SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government has begun devising general plans for the development of inter-Korean relations for the next five years, a Unification Ministry official said Thursday.

   "We've launched preparations for devising basic plans on how to develop the inter-Korean relations for 2013-2017," said an official of the Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean matters.

   According to law established in 2007, the unification minister is obliged to brief parliament on general plans every five years about ways to develop relations with Pyongyang, including inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, and to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, along with detailed action plans on a yearly basis.

   The draft for the next five years will be available around the end of this year, the official said, declining to elaborate on detailed policy directions.

   "The plan is supposed to contain the next leader's philosophy on the inter-Korean relations and specific plans envisioned. So the final version will be confirmed after the presidential election in December," the official added.

   In 2007, the ministry made a draft of the first general plan for the following five years. In the wake of North Korea's sinking of the South's naval vessel Cheonan in March 2010, however, the Lee Myung-bak government took a tough stance against the North and the draft has never been finalized.

   graceoh@yna.co.kr
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