North Korea has sent a letter to the United Nations, renewing its call for a peace treaty with the United States, U.N. records showed Tuesday.

Amb. Ja Song-nam, chief of the North's mission to the U.N., sent the letter to the U.N. secretary-general last week, along with a statement from Pyongyang's foreign ministry calling for a peace treaty with the U.S., according to a copy of the letter released by the U.N.

Ja asked that the letter and the statement be circulated as a Security Council document.

The North claimed in the statement that it is demanding a peace treaty "to put an end to the hostile policy" towards it by the U.S. so as to bring lasting peace and stability the Korean peninsula.

"Nevertheless, the U.S. is responding to the DPRK's fair and above board proposal by elaborating in action on its hostile policy already branded a 'failed strategy,' far from taking a sincere approach towards the proposal," the statement said.

As an example of U.S. hostile policy, the North cited a recent series of sanctions that the U.S. imposed since last month on North Korean officials, including its ambassador to Myanmar, as well as the country's "strategic rocket force" for weapons proliferation.

"The U.S. authorities claim that they have no hostile intent towards the DPRK whenever an opportunity presents itself but they are behaving quite contrary to their words," the North's statement said.

North Korea has long demanded a peace treaty with the U.S. that would replace the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War. But Pyongyang has been stepping up the demand in recent months as the six-party nuclear talks have long remained stalled.

The U.S. has said the North should first focus on negotiations to end its nuclear program.

Earlier this month, Daniel Kritenbrink, senior Asian affairs director at the National Security Council, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency that everything is possible if Pyongyang demonstrates its seriousness about denuclearization. (Yonhap)