South Korea offers olive branch to North

South Korea's president called for cooperation with rival North Korea and pledged limited humanitarian support for suffering North Koreans as the two nations try to set aside animosity and pursue dialogue.

Lee Myung-bak's speech celebrating the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule follows tentative diplomatic talks among officials from the United States, North Korea and South Korea meant to restart international negotiations to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.