The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday proposed holding high-level military talks with South Korea over the investigation of a sunken South Korean warship, Xinhua quoted the official KCNA news agency as reporting.
The head of the DPRK delegation to the DPRK-U.S. general-level talks sent a telephone message to the U.S. side on Sunday, rejecting the U.S. proposal to hold DPRK-U.S. general-level talks over the sinking of warship Cheonan, the KCNA reported.
The DPRK military official rebuffed the U.S. proposal as ridiculous, calling the Military Armistice Commission that the United States set in motion to conduct the investigation "a bogus mechanism" which had already been "defunct."
The DPRK proposed opening north-south high-level military talks to discuss the results of the investigation.
"If the South Korean authorities respond to our proposal, we will promptly come out for a working contact for the opening of the military talks," the KCNA quoted the official as saying.
"The working contact will discuss the issue of sending the inspection group of our National Defense Commission to the spot of South Korea for successfully ensuring the proposed high-level military talks, the time and venue for opening the talks, the composition of delegations of both sides and other working matters," it said.
The DPRK side also demanded that the U.S. side no longer meddle in the issue, saying its continued interference "would only further increase our suspicions about the United States."
The 1,200-ton South Korean naval vessel "Cheonan," with 104 crew members onboard, sank into waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula on March 26, leaving 46 sailors dead.
South Korea accused the DPRK of sinking the warship after a multinational investigation, and referred the case to the UN Security Council. But the DPRK denied its involvement, and also asked the Security Council to help find the truth of the incident.