SEOUL, Mar 2 (AP): North Korea demanded Monday that the US call off its annual military drill with South Korea, a report said, as rare talks between the North and UN forces ended without clear progress on defusing tensions.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North made the demand during talks with the US-led UN Command at the Korean border village of Panmunjom, held for the first time in nearly seven years. It came amid fears the North is gearing up to test-launch a missile believed capable of reaching US territory.
Yonhap quoted an unnamed South Korean military official as saying the North warned the upcoming drill would "further stir up" tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The report said the UN Command insisted that the exercise - involving 26,000 American troops, an unspecified number of South Korean soldiers and a US aircraft carrier - is purely defensive and not preparation for an invasion as the North claims.
North Korea has routinely condemned the regular US-South Korea military drills as preparation for an invasion, although the allies have said they have no intention to attack.
Both the UN Command and the South Korean Defence Ministry said they couldn't confirm the report.
The UN Command only said the sides discussed "measures to reduce tension and introduce transparency" and agreed to further meetings during a half-hour of talks.
"The UNC welcomed this discussion with North Korea which holds the prospect for building trust and preventing misunderstandings between both sides," the statement quoted the command's chief delegate Maj Gen Johnny Weida as saying.
Command spokesman Kim Yong-kyu declined to comment whether the potential missile launch was discussed during the talks.
North Korea had called for the hastily arranged talks last week, saying it wants to discuss ways to reduce tensions, according to the UN Command, which monitors a cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea and the UN Command has held 14 rounds of such high-level military talks "when necessary" since 1998, according to command spokesman Kim.
