North Korea on Saturday proposed holding a working-level meeting with South Korea in late May or early June in preparation for military talks that can diffuse tension on the Korean Peninsula.
Pyongyang's charm offensive toward Seoul came one day after it called on South Korea to immediately accept its latest proposal for inter-Korean dialogue made by the North's leader Kim Jong-un at the country's recently concluded ruling party congress.
"We propose to hold working-level contact for opening (the two Koreas') military authorities talks at the date and place both sides deem convenient in late May or early June in a bid to defuse military tension and create confidence-building atmosphere between the military authorities of North and South Korea," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English dispatch.
South Korea's defense ministry said it received the message sent by the North's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces earlier in the day.
Citing the need to ease military tension, the North's leader proposed to have military talks with the South at the rare Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) congress, which concluded its four-day run on May 9.
"There is no change in the government's stance that denuclearization steps should be a top priority when it comes to dialogue with North Korea," South Korea's defense ministry said Saturday.
This position is unchanged from South Korea's previous one that dismissed the North's offer as a propaganda ploy that lacks sincerity.
Inter-Korean relations have fallen to one of the lowest points this year in the wake of the North's fourth nuclear test in January and launch of a long-range missile the following month.
In early March, the United Nations Security Council imposed the toughest ever sanctions on the reclusive country for defying calls by the international community to give up its nuclear weapons program.
The North's leader, meanwhile, declared his country a "responsible" nuclear weapons state in a clear sign that he has no intention of abandoning its nuclear program.
North Korea insists that its nuclear program is a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy toward its sovereignty.
Analysts said that the North's latest dialogue offer is designed to help the country extract itself from deepening isolation in the face of the tough international sanctions regime.
"South Korea needs to make its own proposal for inter-Korean talks in a bid to find out whether the North has sincerity in its dialogue offer," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University.
The scholar then said the North is trying to tell the world that Pyongyang is making efforts to ease the military tension, but South Korea is not reciprocating.
"Their strategy is to blame the South for the tensions on the Korean Peninsula," he said.
Other North Korean watchers added that Pyongyang's efforts are aimed at winning over countries to get them to end the international sanctions, while blaming Seoul for not doing its part to ease tensions. (Yonhap)
