PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has proposed high-level talks between the militaries of the two sides on the Korean Peninsula to defuse the tensions, the official KCNA news agency confirmed on Friday.

Related readings:  US says inter-Korean talks 'welcome', 'positive' sign  DPRK proposes inter-Korean high-level military talks  ROK accepts DPRK's military talks proposal  S Korea welcomes outcome of China-US summit

The proposal was sent by Kim Yong Chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces of the DPRK National Defence Commission, to Republic of Korea (ROK) Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin in an open message, it said.

The KCNA said Kim Yong Chun also proposed opening the talks "in a place both sides deem convenient in the first half of February to be agreed upon and holding preliminary talks in late January for discussing technical matters related to the opening of the full-dress talks and other specific matters."

The confirmation came a day after ROK's Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday that the ROK government had decided to accept a proposal from the DPRK to hold such talks.

While saying the proposal is arousing great support and sympathy at home and abroad, Kim Yong Chun was also quoted by the KCNA as saying that "it is the unshakable will" of the Korean People's Army (KPA) to bring about a detente on the Korean Peninsula and the improvement of the north-south relations for the future of independent reunification and peace and prosperity.

He stressed the north side had a firm stand that high-level military talks should be opened to handle all the pending military issues and find solutions to them at the talks.