SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense ministry on Tuesday reiterated its denuclearization call for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to Pyongyang's repeated dialogue overtures on military matters.
A South Korean defense ministry official told Xinhua on the phone that the DPRK sent a notice at about 5:40 p.m. (0840 GMT) through the western military hotline in the name of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces under the National Defense Commission.
The Tuesday notice included the same contents as the one, sent on May 21 by the DPRK ministry to propose a working-level contact for inter-governmental military talks at a convenient venue and date for both sides between late May and early June to defuse military tensions on the peninsula.
On Monday, Seoul's defense ministry sent a reply to its DPRK counterpart, dismissing the dialogue offer as the proposal failed to mention its nuclear program, a key issue in inter-Korean relations and peace on the peninsula.
The Seoul official said Tuesday that there is no change in the government's basic position that the DPRK's denuclearization measures should be a top priority in any talks with Pyongyang.
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