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By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer, and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

Five days after planned minister-level talks with South Korean authorities were cancelled, North Korea made a surprise proposal for dialogue with the United States.

Washington responded noncommittally, saying it would judge Pyongyang’s sincerity by actions rather than words.

Korean Central News Agency reported on June 16 on a “major statement” by a spokesperson for North Korea’s National Defense Commission. In the report, the spokesperson was quoted as saying that Pyongyang was “In order to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and to achieve regional peace and security, we propose to hold high-level talks between the DPRK and the United States,” adding that Washington “should not make [North Korean] denuclearization a condition for dialogue if it is interested in relaxing tensions on the Choson [Korean] Peninsula and ensuring the peace and security of the region, including US territory.”

Three topics were mentioned for discussion at the talks: reducing military tensions, replacing the current armistice system with a peace regime, and US efforts to “build a nuclear-free world.”

North Korea also told Washington it “may choose whatever place and date it deems comfortable for the talks.”

The statement stressed the importance of denuclearization, calling the removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula “the dying wish” of previous leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, but also said this was “not merely for the sake of ending the North Korean nuclear program. Our nuclear capabilities are a defensive, strategic choice aimed at achieving a denuclearized Korean Peninsula”.

It also sent a message that North Korea would not be agreeing to the “preemptive measures” Washington has demanded as a condition for dialogue, saying the US “should not talk about pre-conditions for dialogue and meetings.”

Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said the US has “open lines of communication” with North Korea.

“We will judge North Korea by its actions, and not its words,” she continued.

Diplomatic sources predicted that North Korea would send Minister for Foreign Affairs Pak Ui-chun to the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei later this month for possible efforts to arrange talks or meetings with the foreign ministers of South Korea and the US.

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