North Korean media has urged South Korea to lift its economic sanctions against Pyongyang, calling for a removal of laws and measures hindering improvement in inter-Korean relations.

Uriminjokkiri, the North's external propaganda Web site, said on Wednesday that it is important to remove such laws in line with the two sides' efforts for reconciliation, cooperation, peace and progress. 

Taking the so-called May 24th measures as an example, the site claimed that former President Lee Myung-bak and his administration fabricated the 2010 sinking of the South Korean naval vessel, Cheonan, in order to block inter-Korean exchanges and escalate tension and confrontation.

The May 24th measures were imposed in retaliation to the North's attack on the South Korean naval vessel, which killed 46 sailors. 

Tongil Sinbo, a North Korean state-run weekly newspaper, also made a similar call, saying that South Korea should remove laws and measures obstructing inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation, such as the economic sanctions, in order to actively move forward into the era of reconciliation, peace and progress.