The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday said it does not rule out military means to realize national reunification if South Korea insists in maintaining an ideological confrontation with Pyongyang.

In a statement marking the 17th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration on North-South relations, the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the country said while the DPRK wishes for peaceful reunification with South Korea, Seoul must abandon a confrontational policy with the North.

US Air force F-16 jet fighters taxi for take off during the "Max Thunder" South Korea-US military joint air exercise at a US air base in the southwestern port city of Gunsan on April 20, 2017. /VCG Photo

"If the South Korean authorities have no will to recognize and respect the North and give up confrontation and hostility to the compatriots, we have no idea to force them to do so," said the committee.

"The confrontation between social systems will finally lead to physical conflict, and then we are compelled to choose reunification by non-peaceful way," it said.

The DPRK has called on the new South Korean government to change dramatically its policy towards the North to break up with the legacy of the previous two conservative governments, which ruled South Korea from 2007.

US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kaga helicopter carrier are stationed at Yokosuka port, Japan on April 13, 2017. /VCG Photo

"The North-South relations reached total catastrophe due to the US persistently seeking to hinder the Korean nation's reunification and the desperate confrontation moves of the pro-American regimes," said the statement.

"Now that a dramatic regime change has been witnessed in South Korea...the attention of Koreans and other peoples in the world is focused on the new crucial decision and option to be made by the authorities of the North and the South," it said.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (L) and DPRK leader Kim Jong Il /VCG Photo

The June 15 Joint Declaration was signed by late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang in 2000, during the first summit between the two sides since the 1950-53 Korean War.

(Source: Xinhua)