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11/02/2024 11:42:05 am

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North Korea Proposes Peace Offer; South Korea Calls It ‘Nonsensical’

(Photo : REUTERS/Damir Sagolj) South Korean marines patrol along a barbed wire fence on the island of Baengnyeong, on the South Korean side of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea April 12, 2014.

North Korea suggested on Monday that the two Koreas halt military aggression practices starting later this week.

The announcement was made by the North's National Defense Commission, hours after it had confirmed a second missile test personally supervised by Kim Jong Un, according to state-run KCNA news agency.

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The North said they were prepared to suspend all acts of verbal provocation as well as putting an end to live-fire drills and other military aggression activities near the disputed Yellow Sea border. Pyongyang urged Seoul to do the same.

Additionally, it also called the South to cancel its yearly military exercises with the U.S. slated for August, citing the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, as possible leverage.

Pyongyang has promised to send its athletes to participate in the games set from September 19 to October 4.

Further, the commission said that there was no reason for Seoul's concern over their nuclear weapons.

However, South Korea rejected the North's proposal on Tuesday.

"North Korea's proposal is nonsensical and lacks sincerity," the South's unification ministry said in a statement.

"North Korea must show sincerity in resolving the nuclear issue which poses a fundamental threat to peace on the Korean peninsula."

It said that the international community "knows well" the damage of North Korea's nuclear weapons development to regional peace and security. It added that if there were any provocation and slander that occurred, it had all originated from North Korea despite a previous agreement made earlier this year to stop such acts, AFP has learned.

Meanwhile, South Korea's unification minister Ryoo Kihl Jae thinks that there may be a link between the North's uncharacteristic proposal and Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to South Korea on Thursday.

"We cannot definitely say so, but it is quite possible," he said.

China is North Korea's sole major ally. It seems though that recent events point to Beijing's increasing frustration over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. President Xi's visit to the South is widely seen as a slap to the North, who has yet to have a summit with China since Kim took over after his father's death.

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