North Korea's media outlets are successively asking the United States for efforts to build mutual trust, despite recent moves by Washington and Seoul to halt annual joint military exercises and ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The North's media commentaries have also repeatedly stressed the need to implement a joint declaration signed with the US at a summit in Singapore on June 12 and establish a new bilateral relationship through "trust building."

Pyongyang's external propaganda website Meari (echo) said Monday that the North will take additional reciprocal steps if the US takes faithful measures to build mutual trust and improve bilateral relations.

"The North-US summit was a historical breakthrough, as it terminated hostilities between the two countries and paved the ground for new bilateral relations. Both parties should make faithful efforts to implement their joint declaration," Meari said in a commentary.

On Sunday, Uriminzokkiri, another North Korean propaganda website, also urged the US to take genuine trust-building measures, saying it was Pyongyang's "steadfast" determination to open a new future for the sake of the world's peace and safety.

The North's other propaganda media, such as DPRK Today and weekly Tongil Sinbo, also made similar claims, urging the US to thoroughly carry out the Singapore declaration and build mutual trust. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's formal name.

North Korea watchers say Pyongyang's media outlets appear to have set trust building as a precondition in order to dispel decades-old distrust and make progress toward denuclearization.

The North also seems to have stressed its principles of "phased and simultaneous actions" by mentioning that the next-stage goodwill measures will be possible only after mutual trust is built, according to the watchers.

Meanwhile, some analysts speculate that Pyongyang, which is ready to return the remains of US war dead in line with the Singapore declaration, may have showed its feelings of discomfort with Washington's latest decision to extend its existing economic sanctions on the North for another year. (Yonhap)