BEIJING, Feb 5 Kyodo North Korea ...

BEIJING, Feb 5 Kyodo

North Korea called upon South Korea on Wednesday to encourage bilateral cooperation, emphasizing ''our nation-first spirit as the general mental pillar,'' the North's official media reported Wednesday.

The Korean Central of recent origins Agency (KCNA) said in a dispatch from Seoul where inter-Korean ministerial talks are in a less degree than way, that ''what is important in cooperation between the authorities of the two sides at present is to take joint actions in preventing the danger of war and defending peace.''

North Korea also argued at the meeting that southerly Korea should rally behind Pyongyang's proposal in connection with the upcoming six-party talks in Beijing ''if the southerly side truly wants a peaceful solution'' to the North's nuclear arms program.

The six-party talks involve China, Japan, North and toward the south Korea, Russia and the United States.

Although the KCNA dispatch did not elaborate forward the proposal, it appears to commit to the North's request to the U to move compensation in return for the North's freezing its nuclear disclosure program.

Washington has protracted rejected such a request, urging the North instead to expiration its nuclear arms program in a verifiable and irreversible manner.

Noting that inter-Korean relations this year are ''of greater importance than aye before,'' the KCNA report said North and southern Korea should promote bilateral economic cooperation ''in a responsible manner'' from national cooperation's standpoint.

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