MINISTRY OF PEOPLE'S ARMED FORCES AGAIN SENDS NOTICE TO SOUTH SIDE'S MILITARY AUTHORITIES

The Ministry of the People's Armed Forces of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK sent a notice to the south side's military authorities on May 21, proposing holding a working-level contact for opening the north-south military authorities' talks.

It was the proposal of the Korean People's Army to ensure durable peace and security on the Korean peninsula at an early date, true to the noble intention of the Workers' Party of Korea to solve all the issues through dialogue and negotiations such as practical step for defusing military tension and the danger of clash between the north and the south.

However, the south side's military authorities are giving impression that the situation on the peninsula remains tense due to the self-defensive measure taken by the DPRK including the step for bolstering the nuclear force and spreading such absurd assertion that the DPRK's proposal for dialogue is aimed to weaken international cooperation for "sanctions against the north" and create "discord in the south", far from actively responding to the broadminded proposal. They are even making such provocative remarks that "precedence should be given to denuclearization", chilling the desire of all Koreans to open a broad avenue to the improvement of inter-Korean relations through national reconciliation and unity.

The service personnel and people of the DPRK remain unchanged in their will to settle the present catastrophic inter-Korean relations through dialogue and negotiations, not by military standoff and clash.

For this reason the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces of the DPRK sent again the following notice to the south side's military authorities Tuesday:

The purpose of the military authorities' talks is not to call in question what is the principal reason for creating the military tensions on the Korean peninsula and who is to blame for them.

The opening of the inter-Korean military authorities' talks reflects all Koreans' expectation and desire for immediate discussion and solution to pressing issues such as the danger of military clashes along the Military Demarcation Line and in the hotspot of the West Sea

which may spark physical confrontation right now.

A spark of clash is bound to spill over to a war between the north and the south and it is the Korean nation who will fall victim to it.

Nothing can be a prerequisite or excuse for denying dialogue and shunning negotiations, the best way of settling all issues.

To refuse to meet, misusing an important issue decisive of the rise and fall of the Korean nation for achieving an absurd political purpose, is nothing but a far-fetched assertion that convinces no one.

The DPRK remains unchanged in its stand to hold a working-level contact for opening the north-south military authorities' talks late in May or early in June.

The south Korean authorities should immediately respond to the DPRK's proposal for ensuring peace of the country and security of the nation by deescalating the acute military tensions between the north and the south.