N Korea 'proposes military talks'
North Korea has proposed holding military talks with South Korea next week and the South is still considering its response, Southern sources say.
If the talks go ahead, they will be the two states' first official contact since Lee Myung-bak became president of South Korea in February.
The development comes after the North retreated from a nuclear disarmament deal, barring UN inspectors.
It wants the US to remove it from its terrorism blacklist, as promised.
The US said that would only happen when North Korea allowed monitors to verify claims it had made about its nuclear arms programme.
South Korea's unification ministry said the North had proposed holding working-level military talks on 30 September.
The UN nuclear inspectors have been expelled from the most sensitive part of the Yongbyon facility: the reprocessing plant which can be used to make weapons-grade plutonium.
Ties between the two Koreas cooled after Mr Lee became president in February.
He promised closer ties with the US and a tougher line on North Korea, arguing that economic aid should be tied to Pyongyang's willingness to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7638462.stm
