A unification advisory council said Friday North Korea's official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), has appeared in inter-Korean agreements for the past three decades and is nothing new, stepping in to help calm controversy over its use. The council, made up of former unification ministers and experts on inter-Korean relations, made the point at a meeting with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young at the government complex. They said the name, the DPRK, has appeared in more than 100 inter-Korean documents. Lim Dong-won, who served as unification minister under President Kim Dae-jung, noted that the June 15 inter-Korean summit declaration in 2000 referred to the two Koreas by their official names — the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the DPRK, respectively. The historic agreement, signed by Kim and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, sought to improve ties, ease military tensions and build peace on the Korean Peninsula. "People may think using 'Joson' is something entirely new, but that is not true," he said, referring to North Korea's Korean-language name for itself. "We need