North Korea urged South Korea Friday to accept its offer to hold military talks in its latest charm offensive toward Seoul after spiking tensions with its missile and nuclear weapons program.
North Korea's National Defense Commission (NDC) called on South Korea to immediately accept the dialogue proposal made by the North's leader Kim Jong-un at the country's recently-concluded party congress.
"South Korea should respond to our proposal for the talks without delay in a bid to end the two Koreas' animosity and confrontation and restore trust," showed the NDC's "open letter" carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
It also called on Seoul to join moves by the North to carry out "audacious and practical" measures for national unity.
Citing the need to ease military tension, the North's leader proposed military talks with South Korea at the congress by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which concluded its four-day run on May 9.
Earlier, South Korea's unification ministry rejected the North's offer as a propaganda ploy which lacks sincerity, calling on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Seoul urged Pyongyang to choose the path toward denuclearization if it hopes to bring peace and rapprochement to the divided peninsula.
Inter-Korean relations have fallen to one of the lowest points following North Korea's January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in February.
In March, the U.N. Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions to date against the communist country that defied warnings issued by the international community.
