North Korea has proposed the two Koreas hold closed-door talks to discuss maritime borders beginning next month.

A government official said Tuesday that during preparatory sessions for the second inter-Korea defense minister talks, the North was known to have proposed general-level talks starting next month to confer on drawing a maritime demarcation line.

It is believed that a move such as this is an indicator of Pyongyang’s will to visit the issue during the inter-Korean defense minister talks that begin Tuesday.

An expert from the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA), a government think-tank, said that if the border issue is introduced during the talks it could create a harsh atmosphere, adding the North most likely brought up the issue to pressure the South on other matters rather than to break up the talks.