(2nd LD) Park voices hope for end of bloody civil war
(ATTN: RECASTS throughout to highlight Park's comments; CHANGES headline)
By Kim Kwang-tae
BOGOTA, April 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye expressed hope Friday that Colombia and its leftist guerrilla group can produce progress in their peace negotiations to end five decades of a bloody civil war.
She also offered condolences for the recent deaths of Colombian soldiers as she held summit talks with her Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos.
The move came hours after Santos observed a minute of silence for the dead soldiers with Park and other participants in a separate bilateral business forum.
Santos also voiced hope that his country will end the civil war as he consoled the parents of another soldier killed by a unit of the local Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
"We do not want parents to bury their children in their hearts anymore," Santos said through an interpreter at the forum held for Park, who is on a three-day visit to Bogota.
Santo's comments came two days after he ordered the resumption of the bombing campaign on FARC positions in an apparent retaliation against the deaths of 11 soldiers killed by a FARC unit.
"Peace does not belong to a country. It is something we achieve through our joint efforts," Santos said.
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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