Besnik blog

N. Korea makes fresh call for talks with S. Korea

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea Friday made a fresh call for talks with South Korea to reduce what it called the danger of war, urging Seoul to discard "useless misgivings and prejudice".

The Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland proposed dialogue between legislators from both sides "to settle the grave situation prevailing between the North and the South".

The two sides have already agreed in principle to hold military talks, in what would be their first contact since the North shelled a South Korean border island on November 23 -- killing four people including two civilians.

The South responded coolly to the latest proposal, saying it lacks sincerity.

"We are currently discussing opening military talks and have proposed separate talks to confirm the North's willingness to denuclearise," said unification ministry spokesman Chun Hae-Sung.

"It is our judgment that the North continuing this kind of offensive under such circumstances is not behaviour that shows sincerity."

The South has proposed holding working-level military talks on February 11 to set the time and agenda for high-level military dialogue.

Seoul also accuses its neighbour of torpedoing a warship last March with the loss of 46 lives. The North denies that attack.

South Korea says it will demand that its neighbour take "responsible measures" over last year's attacks and pledge not to repeat them, as a precondition for any high-level military meeting.

But Friday's statement from the Democratic Front, one of the bodies overseeing cross-border affairs, called for unconditional talks.

"We appeal to the South Korean authorities to discard useless misgivings and prejudice and honestly come out for all the proposed North-South dialogues without delay and any condition," it said in a statement on the official news agency.

It said the danger of war "in which fire was returned for fire last year was defused temporarily thanks to the (North's) positive efforts but this danger still persists".

The North says its shelling of the island near the disputed Yellow Sea border was in response to a South Korean artillery exercise, which dropped shells into waters claimed by Pyongyang.

The South says its own exercise was routine and the North's response was a premeditated provocation.

After months of fiery rhetoric, Pyongyang has changed tack this year and made frequent appeals for dialogue. Seoul has expressed scepticism about most of the overtures, saying they are public relations exercises.