North Korea has proposed postponing until next month inter-Korean talks on reconnecting cross-border transportation links, initially scheduled to begin Wednesday.

The head of the North's working-level committee for the talks relayed the proposal Monday in a telephone message through the truce village of Panmunjom.

The talks are also aimed at seeking joint safety measures for the flood-prone Imjin River, which overlaps both sides of the border.

In its message, Pyongyang cited its discomfort with South Korea's annual joint military exercises with the United States - an event which the North has previously denounced as an act "tantamount to war."

The South