North Korea offers to suspend nuclear tests — if U.S. and South Korea end military drills

North Korean official news agency KCNA reported on Saturday that the country used "a relevant channel" to send Washington a proposal on Friday, Reuters reports.

However, the floated deal — North Korea will halt its nuclear tests if the U.S. stops conducting military drills with South Korea — is similar to others made by Pyongyang before. They never stick, Reuters notes. North Korea calls its goal of creating a nuclear arsenal its "sacred sword" — in 2012, the country agreed to halt nuclear tests in exchange for an easing of tensions with the U.S. But Pyongyang called off the deal two months later.

For its part, the U.S. State Department denounced the "proposal" as something more aggressive.

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"The DPRK statement that inappropriately links routine U.S.-(South Korea) exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is an implicit threat," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.