The UN command structure for multinational forces in South Korea may accept a North Korean proposal for military talks over the sinking of a South Korean warship, a report said Sunday.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said North Korea had proposed Friday that senior officers from the two sides meet on July 13 to discuss setting up general-level talks on the sinking of the Cheonan.

The Cheonan, a corvette, was destroyed near the North-South border east of the Korean peninsula on March 26, killing 46 sailors in an attack that a multinational investigation convened by South Korea blamed on the North.

Yonhap said the offer to hold the meeting of colonels, at the border village of Panmunjom, was a counterproposal to one from the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) in June to discuss the Cheonan investigation with the North.

"Chances are high that the North-UNC meeting will take place," Yonhap quoted a senior official at the South's defence ministry as saying.

"A working-level meeting can be held on July 13 as proposed by the North or it could be scheduled for a later date than that."

The South's defence ministry refused to confirm the report.

Pyongyang has angrily denied responsibility for attacking the Cheonan and said it regarded as "a great diplomatic victory" a resolution passed by the UN Security Council Friday that failed to blame it directly for the attack.

South Korea, its ally the United States and several other countries had urged the UN to censure the North for the sinking, but China, the North's principal ally, resisted such a move.

South Korea's defence ministry said there was no change to its plan to carry out a joint naval exercise with the United States in the Yellow Sea, despite objections from China.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates are scheduled to attend a joint meeting of the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries in Seoul on July 21.

In Seoul, Clinton and Gates will visit a war memorial to pay tribute to the 46 South Korean sailors, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

earlier related report
N.Korea willing to hold nuke talks after escaping UN blame
Seoul (AFP) July 10, 2010 - North Korea said Saturday it was willing in principle to return to nuclear disarmament talks after the United Nations failed directly to blame it for a deadly attack on a South Korean warship.

The North, which denies US and South Korean claims that it torpedoed the ship with the loss of 46 lives, indicated it felt vindicated by the UN statement which was watered down under pressure from China, Pyongyang's ally.

All parties in the months-long dispute, which has sharply raised regional tensions, professed satisfaction with the presidential statement adopted Friday, which condemns the March attack without specifying the culprit.

The North said the statement exposes the "foolish calculation" of the United States and South Korea in bringing the issue to the UN. It warned of "strong physical retaliation" if they press on with countermeasures over the sinking.

If hostile forces persist in "demonstration of forces and sanctions", they would not escape "strong physical retaliation" or evade responsibility for escalating the conflict, a foreign ministry spokesman told official media.

The South Korean and US navies are planning a joint exercise to deter North Korean "provocation". Seoul has announced reprisals including a partial trade cut-off.

Repeating its earlier stance, the North said it would make "consistent efforts for the conclusion of a peace treaty and the denuclearisation through the six-party talks conducted on equal footing".

The talks have been stalled since North Korea quit them in April 2009.

The North has previously expressed willingness in principle to return. But first it wants the US to agree to hold talks on a peace treaty formally ending the 1950-53 war and an end to sanctions.

Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University said Pyongyang believed it had put up a good defence at the United Nations since the statement stopped short of blaming the North.

"North Korea is now taking a peace offensive, calling for dialogue," he said.

South Korea, its ally the United States and several other countries had urged the UN to censure the North for the sinking, but China resisted such a move.

The statement condemns the attack as a threat to regional peace and calls for "appropriate and peaceful measures" against those responsible.

It expresses deep concern at the findings of a multinational investigation team which concluded the North was to blame, but "takes note" of the North's denial of responsibility.

The statement welcomes Seoul's restraint and calls for direct talks to settle disputes on the peninsula peacefully.

The North's ambassador to the UN, Sin Son-ho, hailed the statement as "our great diplomatic victory". The foreign ministry spokesman was less triumphal but noted the call for dialogue.

The spokesman complained that the UN "hastily tabled and handled the case before the truth of the case has been probed" and described the allegations against Pyongyang as a "conspiratorial farce".

South Korea welcomed the UN's stance, saying it "emphasised the importance of preventing further provocations". But it called on the North to accept responsibility for the attack and apologise, in addition to showing a commitment to denuclearisation.

"North Korea, above all, must clearly show its will toward denuclearisation," said foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young-Sun.

The South's defence ministry meanwhile said there was no change to its plan to carry out a joint naval exercise with the United States in the Yellow Sea, despite objections from China.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will visit South Korea this month, said the UN had sent a warning to North Korea "that such irresponsible and provocative behaviour is a threat to peace and security in the region and will not be tolerated".

Japan described the UN text as "a clear message of the international community about a North Korean attack" while China merely said it was time to move on.

"We hope the involved parties continue to maintain calm and restraint, and take this opportunity to flip over the page of the Cheonan incident as soon as possible," a foreign ministry spokesman said in Beijing.