North Korea has proposed military talks with the United States under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. has yet to respond to the proposal, but South Korean officials were quick to dismiss the offer, saying that Seoul should be involved in any talks to replace the armistice that ended the Korean War.

The Korean War broke out in 1950 and ended in 1953.

The proposal comes just days ahead of the resumption of six-party talks on the North's denuclearization. It follows an accord reached in February under which Pyongyang agreed to a separate meeting on the peace regime issue among the countries directly involved in order to terminate the fragile armistice.

In a statement issued by Lieutenant General Ri Chan-bok, who heads the North Korean Army's mission at Panmunjeom, the North said it wants direct military talks with the U.S. in the presence of a United Nations representative "at any place and at any time."

It said the talks, if held, would focus on "issues related to ensuring peace and security" on the peninsula, where the two Koreas remain technically at war since the Korean War ended without a formal peace treaty.

The armistice was signed by the U.S.-led U.N. forces and the allied militaries of North Korea and China. South Korea was not a signatory because it opposed the armistice at that time.

The North's statement was also accompanied by a warning that it could stop the process of dismantling its nuclear program if the U.S. does not halt what it claimed were "preparations for a preemptive strike" against the communist nation.

It said that if the United States does not halt such preparations, it is clear that neither the implementation of the February 13th agreement nor the success of the six-party talks would be possible.

South Korean officials said that the North's offer for direct talks is not unexpected, as it comes just ahead of the resumption of the six-way nuclear talks and a new round of general-level military talks between the two Koreas.

But a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said that negotiations to discuss peace and security on the Korean Peninsula should be made "between the parties directly involved in the question." The spokesman added that the government is ready to deal positively with the discussions on the establishment of peace and security guarantees on the Korean Peninsula.

Defense officials in Seoul said Washington is unlikely to accept the North's offer for direct military talks.