By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

North Korea appears to be employing a two-track strategy after it fired artillery shells into the West Sea border for the second consecutive day Thursday, while proceeding with inter-Korean talks on joint projects.

Pyongyang also proposed talks with the United Nations Command (UNC) on the same day to discuss the resumption of operations to excavate the remains of U.S. soldiers who fought alongside South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.

The secretive state resumed an ``artillery exercise'' by firing shells toward the South's Yeonpyeong Island from 8:15 a.m., a South Korean defense official said.

The official added that the shells landed in waters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto border drawn up by the U.S.-led UNC at the end of the Korean War, which the North refuses to recognize.

A day earlier, Pyongyang fired some 100 rounds in the same area on three separate occasions. No casualties or damage occurred.

A leading North Korea watcher said that this dual-track approach is aimed at pressing the United States to hold negotiations over security issues, particularly the signing of a peace treaty.

The two Koreas remain technically at war since the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

``The firing is a kind of protest against the joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. scheduled for March,'' Prof. Yang Moo-jin at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told The Korea Times.

``North Korea is, in my understanding, seeking dialogue over the peace treaty issue by putting pressure on the United States,'' he added.

Early this month, the communist state proposed holding talks with parties concerned in order to replace the armistice with a peace treaty.

But Washington rejected the proposal and instead urged the isolated state to return to the six-party denuclearization talks first.

Despite the provocative action, another North Korea watcher said inter-Korean talks over the operation of the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North would take place as planned.

``Since Pyongyang appears to be taking a two-track approach, it will not dare to ruin inter-Korean relations,'' Prof. Kim Yong-hyun at Dongguk University said.

Last week Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold working-level talks on the operation of the complex next Monday.

Even after North Korea's firing of artillery shells, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said the government will continue inter-Korean talks and humanitarian aid as planned.

President Lee Myung-bak, who is on a trip to Switzerland, directed the Cabinet to react in a calm and cool-headed manner, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Yang ruled out the possibility of North Korea using additional, stronger provocations such as the launching of a missile.

``Now, North Korea and the United States are trying to foster an atmosphere conducive to bilateral dialogue and besides, the North has proposed talks with the UNC to resume the excavation of the remains of U.S. soldiers,'' he noted.

``Pyongyang is not likely to fire missiles or take any further provocative actions,'' he said.

Prof. Yang said that the artillery exercise was also unlikely to affect the six-way talks, which he expects are highly likely to be resumed next month or in mid-March.

``When Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, visits Seoul on Feb. 2, he will introduce measures to resolve the nuclear standoff in a broader framework,'' he said.

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr