South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged North Korea on Sunday to return to dialogue so the two countries can “leave behind the dark past and move forward together toward a new future,” repudiating the goal of unification by force.

Lee’s speech to mark March 1 Independence Movement Day came days after Pyongyang reaffirmed that it has severed “all ties with South Korea” at the close of its Ninth Party Congress.

“Building a peaceful Korean Peninsula where we grow together through coexistence and cooperation, not hostility, and on a foundation of trust rather than distrust, is the true way to