(LEAD) Santos voices hope for end of bloody civil war

(ATTN: UPDATES with comments by Park; ADDS context, background of civil war)
By Kim Kwang-tae

BOGOTA, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos expressed hope Friday that his country will end five decades of a bloody civil war at a forum attended by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who is on a four-nation South American trip.

"We do not want parents to bury their children in their hearts anymore," Santos said through an interpreter at the business forum held for Park and a South Korean business delegation.

Santos made the comment soon after he consoled the parents of a soldier killed by rebels.

The comment came two days after he ordered the resumption of the bombing campaign on Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) positions.

The order is an apparent retaliation against the deaths of 11 soldiers killed by a FARC unit.

Santos also observed a minute of silence with Park and other participants in the forum for the dead soldiers.

Park is on a three-day visit to Colombia, the first leg of her trip to South America.

"Peace does not belong to a country. It is something we achieve through our joint efforts," Santos said.

In a separate summit later in the day, Park offered condolences for the deaths of soldiers and expressed hope that Colombia and the rebels can produce progress in their peace negotiations to end the half-century conflict.

The Colombian conflict has killed more than 218,000 people between 1958 and 2012, the latest year for which statistics are available, according to the National Center for Historic Memory, which is run by the Colombian government.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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