South Korea and the international community will never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, Seoul's Ministry of National Defense said Monday, vowing to pressure Pyongyang to renounce its nuclear ambitions through "strong" sanctions.

The ministry also dismissed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's proposal for cross-border military talks as "insincere," urging the communist state to stop its provocative behavior and move toward its denuclearization.

During its ongoing congress of the North's Workers' Party of Korea, Kim reaffirmed that it will continue to push for its dual-track policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear arms and debilitated economy. He also made the overture for inter-Korean military talks for "peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula."

"It has been our and international community's consistent position that (we) will never accept the North as a nuclear-armed state," ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said during a regular press briefing.

"The government will continue to make efforts to push the North to give up its nuclear ambitions through strong sanctions and pressure," he added.

Referring to the North Korean leader's proposal for bilateral military talks, he said that there was "no sincerity at all" in the proposal.

"When it calls itself a nuclear-armed state and engages in provocative acts, including nuclear and missile provocations, there is no sincerity at all in (his) reference to the need for military talks to reduce tensions," Moon said.

He also said that while the door for dialogue remains open, Pyongyang should stop any provocations and take "sincere" steps toward its denuclearization.

South Korea's unification ministry cast a similar view, calling on the North to first show commitment to denuclearization.

"Only when the North suspends its provocations and shows sincerity for denuclearization can the two Koreas hold meaningful dialogues," Jeong Joon-hee, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing.

Seoul officials believe that should the military talks be held, the North might exploit them to pressure the South to stop its propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along the tense inter-Korean border, which observers say could jeopardize the despotic regime in Pyongyang

In retaliation for the North's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, the South resumed its broadcasts. The North has called the broadcasts a "threat to its communist system," as they underscore South Korea's economic achievements, the benefits of liberal democracy and the importance of human rights, and call for the restoration of the divided nation's homogeneity.

The South Korean military has put loudspeakers for the 24-hour broadcasts at 11 locations along the military demarcation line. It plans to deploy 40 additional loudspeakers along the border by the end of November.

Seoul officials also presume that Pyongyang would raise the longstanding issue of redrawing the current maritime boundary, called the Northern Limit Line (NLL), should the bilateral military talks resume.

The communist regime has long disputed the NLL, arguing that it was drawn unilaterally by the then U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. It argues the NLL should be redrawn further south.

In June 2006, the two Koreas struck an agreement over a set of measures to prevent accidental clashes around the NLL. But that agreement has fallen through with Pyongyang frequently violating the de facto sea border. (Yonhap)