This urge was made in a notice sent to the ministry on Jan. 31.

The DPRK proposed holding north-south dialogues including talks between the authorities and Red Cross talks through the joint statement of its government, political parties and organizations and the statement of a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, etc., the notice said. Now is the time for the authorities of the north and the south to sit face to face and have exhaustive and constructive talks now that the Korean People's Army's magnanimous proposal for holding high-level military talks removed all the hurdles lying in the way of the inter-Korean dialogue, it added.

It urged once again the south side to seek a sincere negotiated settlement of humanitarian issues including the reunion of separated families and relatives and all other issues of mutual concern.