North Korea has extended its offer to hold dialogue with South Korea for the sixth day in a row, calling on Seoul to accept its proposal to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, the country's state media reported Wednesday.
An institute under the ruling Workers' Party of Korea said North Korea is ready to have candid talks with South Korea, blaming Seoul for not accepting its dialogue proposal, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the party's main newspaper.
The offer is part of North Korea's charm offensive toward Seoul, which is in line with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's proposal to hold inter-Korean military talks made at the WPK's recent party congress.
Since Friday, when the North's armed forces department first made the proposal to South Korea, the North has continued its dialogue offensive. A day later, it offered to have a working-level meeting with South Korea in late May or early June in preparation for military talks.
But Seoul has continued to reject them, saying that denuclearization steps should be a "top priority" in resuming dialogue.
South Korea said that the North's offers lack sincerity, calling on Pyongyang to make clear its stance over denuclearization.
At the party congress in early May, the North's leader called his country a "responsible" nuclear state, reaffirming his signature policy of pursuing its nuclear development program in tandem with economic growth. (Yonhap)
