North Korea calls for military talks with South

SEOUL, May 20 (UPI) -- North Korea is urging the South to respond to a request for military talks.

The message from Pyongyang's National Defense Commission even offered an incentive – stating the talks could ease tensions.

"South Korea should respond to our proposal for the talks without delay in a bid to end the two Koreas' animosity and confrontation and restore trust," the letter on KCNA read.

But the missive also said the Seoul government has been "encouraging distrust and confrontation, while placing obstacles on improving relations," Yonhap reported.

"Now actions are urgently needed, more than a hundred words," North Korea said in the statement issued Friday.

The letter also condemned the broadcast of propaganda messages on South Korean loudspeakers and North Korean defector helium balloon launches across the border as "hostile acts."

South Korea has said the North's offer of talks doesn't show sufficient sincerity.

The offer was first mentioned during a speech Kim Jong Un delivered at the Seventh Party Congress in early May.

Many South Korean experts are saying the offer of dialogue contains ulterior motives, including Pyongyang's long-term plan to re-engage the United States in a bilateral dialogue, Newsis reported.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the message is aiming to "achieve an atmosphere for a talks proposal with the United States."

The call for talks is a practical measure and the possibility North Korea could temporarily stop nuclear tests for talks cannot be ruled out, Yang said.