By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea said Friday that it wants to hold military talks with the United States under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
The unusual proposal came amid growing hopes for a peace treaty to replace the 54-year-old armistice on the Korean Peninsula following the recent progress on the North's nuclear issue.
Nuclear envoys from six nations _ the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia _ are set to resume a fresh round of disarmament talks in Beijing on July 18.
The proposal was made in a statement issued by the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) mission at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.
``We propose talks between the DPRK and U.S. militaries to be attended by a U.N. representative at any place and at any time to be agreed upon between both sides for the purpose of discussing ways of ensuring peace and security on the Korean Peninsula'' said the statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.
The DPRK, or Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the North's official name.
South Korean defense officials were skeptical about the proposal in that the South is excluded from the military talks and the North still criticizes the United States for heightening tension on the peninsula through massive joint drills with South Korea.
The statement said that if U.S. ``pressure'' persists, implementing recent agreements on its nuclear weapons program would not be possible.
``It is easy to miss a chance, but difficult to get it,'' the North warned in the statement.
North Korea has long called for replacing the ceasefire with a permanent peace treaty but tried to exclude South Korea from the issue on the grounds that the South was not involved in the armistice signing.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice signed by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, North Korea and China, leaving the peninsula technically at war.
The United States is also positive about the peace talks, which it considers an incentive for Pyongyang to pick up the pace of denuclearization efforts under the Feb. 13 agreement.
Under the disarmament deal, the Stalinist regime agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor and declare its nuclear programs.
Early this week, Christopher Hill, chief U.S. nuclear delegate at the six-way talks, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the Bush administration ``hopes to start discussing a formal peace treaty with Pyongyang by year-end.''
South Korea, for its part, has been seeking to take the initiative in the envisaged peace talks. A local newspaper reported on Monday that Cheong Wa Dae and the country's three major security-related think tanks discussed in May ways of initiating peace talks by August.