By Jack Kim
SEOUL, Jan 24 (Reuters) - North Korea on Friday proposed reunions of families separated since the Korean War six decades ago, continuing its latest campaign of reconciliation that included a call for the South and the United States to cancel joint military drills.
South Korea quickly welcomed the proposal, which Pyongyang offered to hold "at the South's convenience" in a message received and made public by the South's Unification Ministry.
But the two sides have been at this stage before, either going ahead with or calling off the brief, highly choreographed reunions, only for the North to return to its bellicose rhetoric within days.
In September, the reclusive North abruptly cancelled the reunions just days before they were to take place, dealing a setback to months of efforts to improve ties and, according to the South, "breaking the hearts" of ageing Koreans who had to hoped to see their long-lost relatives for one last time.
North Korea at the time accused the South of using the events to promote conflict. The South called the cancellation inhumane and "deeply regrettable".
The two Koreas remain technically at war, as their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The war left millions of families divided, with private travel across the border and communication including phone calls banned.
The reunions, if they take place, would mean a resumption after a break of more than three years. Separated families meet for fleeting moments at a resort in Mount Kumgang just north of the Korean border.
South Korea has said the reunions should be held more frequently on humanitarian grounds and free of political agenda but the North has often tried to use them as a bargaining tool in the rivals' turbulent ties since their leaders' landmark 2000 summit meeting pledging reconciliation.
Tensions soared earlier last year as Pyongyang reacted angrily to tightened U.N. sanctions imposed in response to its latest nuclear test.
The North sharply criticized the joint military drills conducted annually by the South and the United States and accusing them of being a prelude to war.
The drills have been conducted for decades with a major incident and the two allies have stressed that they are purely defensive in nature aimed at testing readiness against North Korean aggression.
The North has repeated its call this year for a halt of the drills but mixed it with a message of national reconciliation, but the South has rejected it as "insincere". (Editing by Nick Macfie)
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