North Korea has proposed resuming the excavation of remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War.

The proposal coincided with the North’s firing of artillery shells into waters near the inter-Korean maritime boarder in the Yellow Sea.

An official from the United Nations Command said Thursday that the North made the proposal during a meeting between the North Korean military and the command held Wednesday at the truce village of Panmunjeom.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed the North's proposal in an interview with Voice of America.

Washington has unearthed about 200 sets of remains of U.S. soldiers in North Korea since 1996 but suspended the recovery operations in 2005 due to security concerns.