The DPRK's reunification committee issued a statement calling for "unconditional and early" talks.

Seoul officials said they would review the latest proposals from Pyongyang. The RoK dismissed a similar offer earlier this week as "propaganda".

The sinking of a Southern warship last March sparked a dramatic rise in tension on the peninsula.

The Cheonan was apparently sunk by a Northern torpedo, with the loss of 46 lives. The DPRK denies the attack.

Since then, the RoK has irked the DPRK by holding large-scale military exercises close to the maritime border.

On 23 November, the DPRK infuriated the RoK by shelling one of its islands and killing four people.

But in the past week, the DPRK has shifted away from statements threatening war and retaliation, to issuing offers of talks and peace overtures.

"The RoK’s authorities should discard any unnecessary misgiving, open their hearts and positively respond to the DPRK's proposal and measure," the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Saturday.

The committee suggested that the talks should take place later in January or early February.

The committee also said the DPRK would reopen a liaison office with the RoK at a joint factory-complex just north of the demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula.

In response, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told the Associated Press news agency that the statement would be considered, but noted that no formal request had been received.