North Korea on Sunday proposed talks with the United States to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions have been high between North Korea and South Korea and its ally the United States since North Korea carried out its third nuclear test on February 12.
“If the US is truly interested in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and securing peace and security in the region, including the US mainland, it should not speak about holding talks or making contact on the basis of pre-conditions,” North Korea’s National Defence Commission said in a statement.
Both sides should talk about a peace treaty, a spokesman for the National Defence Commission was quoted as saying in state media.
Talks between North and South Korea planned for last week collapsed at the last minute due to a dispute about the composition of the delegations. The talks had been due to deal with the operation of a jointly run industrial park and humanitarian issues.
The talks would have come after months of increasing tensions because of North Korean nuclear tests and threats against the South.
The North’s nuclear test in February triggered condemnation from the international community and resulted in more sanctions against the reclusive state.
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war, even though open hostilities ended in 1953, aside from occasional flare-ups.