SEOUL - SOUTH Korean president Lee Myung Bak on Friday urged North Korea to give up attempts to divide South Koreans and cooperate with the South in opening 'a new era of co-existence and co-prosperity'.

In his New Year speech televised live across the country, Mr Lee said the South was ready to resume talks with the communist state 'at any time'.

'North Korea must now give up its outdated practice of trying to create divisions among South Koreans and become more cooperative,' he said.

'I'm ready to engage in dialogue with the North at any time and cooperate with it as a partner,' he said.

He made the statement after North Korea on Thursday lashed out at Seoul, accusing it of failing to commit to summit accords signed between Pyongyang and Mr Lee's liberal predecessors.

In a policy-setting New Year message, Pyongyang exhorted South Koreans to 'make more dynamic efforts to put an end to the fascist rule of the sycophantic and treacherous conservative authorities and remove the danger of war'.

But it dropped its customary criticism of the United States in the run-up to the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama.

The North also reaffirmed its commitment to denuclearisation and peace and had no harsh words for Washington.

Inter-Korean ties began to worsen after the conservative President Lee took office in February last year.

He rolled back his liberal predecessors' engagement policy and linked major economic assistance to the North's willingness to make progress in denuclearisation. -- AFP