DPRK offers to suspend nuclear tests if US suspends drills with ROK

This undated picture released by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 7, 2015 shows a recoilless gun firing contest of units directly under first infantry divisions in echelon formation, by the Korean People's Army (KPA) frontline corps at an undisclosed place in the DPRK. [Photo: CFP]

SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Saturday it was willing to suspend nuclear tests if the United States agreed to call off annual military drills held jointly with Republic of Korea (ROK), but Washington rejected the proposal.

The offer, which the DPRK's official KCNA news agency said was conveyed to Washington on Friday through "a relevant channel", follows an often repeated demand by Pyongyang for an end to the large-scale defensive drills by the allies.

"The message proposed (that) the US contribute to easing tension on the Korean peninsula by temporarily suspending joint military exercises in ROK and its vicinity this year," KCNA said in a report.

"(The message) said that in this case the DPRK is ready to take such a responsive step as temporarily suspending the nuclear test over which the US is concerned," KCNA said, using the short form for the DPRK.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the nuclear tests and military exercises were separate issues.

"The DPRK statement that inappropriately links routine US-ROK exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat," Psaki told reporters traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry in Europe.

The United States and the ROK have carried out the joint military exercises for roughly 40 years, she added.

Tension peaked on the Korean peninsula in March 2013 when the North ratcheted up rhetoric during the annual drills, with Pyongyang threatening war and putting its forces in a state of combat readiness.