North Korea on Thursday called for verbal and military provocations between the two sides of the Korean Peninsula to stop, and urged practical measures to be taken to prevent a "nuclear disaster," the official KCNA news agency reported.

The appeal was made by the National Defense Commission (NDC) in a three-point "important proposal" stating that inter-Korea relations could thaw, including on issues such as the families separated by war, if the two sides make concerted efforts to implement the proposals starting Jannuary 30, the Lunar New Year, said the KCNA.

The NDC urged South Korea to stop its annual military drills with the United States, ahead of the 2014 drills scheduled for late February.

The commission also stressed that North Korea still wants denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, urging South Korea to abandon "Double Acts" - attaching itself to the US while denying a nuclear deterrent to its "same nation," the North.

"It is high time to terminate the vicious circle between the same nation and make amiable atmosphere," the proposal said, expecting an "echo" from South Korea.

On Wednesday, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Seoul and Washington must cancel their annual military drills as they are "little short of the declaration of an all-out nuclear war."

South Korea claims the joint military drills are defensive in nature, but the North denounced them as rehearsal for a northward invasion.

The committee warned of an "unimaginable holocaust and disaster" and a crisis in inter-Korean ties if "the rehearsal for a nuclear invasion into the Norht Korea" pushes on.

China said Thursday it hopes all relevant countries on the Korean Peninsula can exercise restraint.

Xinhua