EOUL — North Korea's authoritative National Defense Commission says there should be unconditional high level talks with the United States.

This comes following previous vows by Pyongyang to attack the United States and South Korea with nuclear weapons, threats not taken seriously during a period of escalated bellicose rhetoric from North Korea.

The North Korean proposal, released Sunday morning Korea time, was introduced by announcers on state broadcasting as an “important announcement.”

A North Korean television announcer said “if the United States has true intent on...

accord across agenc ago agre agreement allow also analyst announc arrang asia asia-pacif ask assert atop attack authorit ballist bargain begin beij bellicos broadcast capabl character china chines choe claim come commiss commit contact continu could crisi daniel date day defens defus deleg demonstr denuclear deputi develop dialogu director discuss dismantl engag ensur eoul escal faith follow gangster gangster-lik good govern group hae high high-level hous immedi implement import initi intent intern introduc jinp korea korean last leader leav less level like long long-stand made mainland marshal mastermind meet messag miniatur missil month morn name nation need news north northeast nuclear ocean offer offici one overboard pacif part parti peac peninsula period pinkston place posit precondit presid previous program propos pyongyang quick quot rais rare react reaction realli recognit regard region reject releas remov repeat request respect respond respons rhetor rival ryong saenuri said sanction say schedul semi semi-offici send seoul serious servic show sincer social sourc south stabil stand state strike submit sunday tabl taken talk target technolog televis tension threat time true twitter two u.s umbrella uncondit unit unlik venu vice vow weapon week went white wider willing work working-level would xi yonhap