TEHRAN New Ambassador to Tehran of Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Chunk submitted here Sunday his credentials to the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

President Khatami assessed Tehran-Pyongyang relations as good and said that Iran is ready to cooperate with North Korea for further expansion of bilateral relations.

He called for an amicable solution to the rivalries prevailing between the two Koreas.

South and North Korea fought a bitter three-year war that ended in 1953 in a truce still in effect.

Relations have warmed since the summit in Pyongyang and President Kim was awarded the Nobel Prize for the first time as a Korean for reducing hostility between the two Koreas.

South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung said, Sunday he would make efforts to steadily reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula after having laid the groundwork for rapprochement through a historic summit DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il in June 2000.

"The government will steadily push forward its inter-Korean policies in an effort to reduce south-north tensions and promote bilateral exchanges, heralding the age of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said.

Meanwhile the DPRK Ambassador to Tehran conveyed the warm greetings of his country's leader Kim Jong-Il and President Kim Yong Nam to Iran's Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Khatami.

(IRNA)