The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday proposed to build a lasting peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula to replace the ceasefire treaty with the United States that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

"Building a peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula would contribute in all circumstances to the creation of an atmosphere for the peaceful co-existence between the DPRK and the US, and to the achievement of a peaceful reunification of the north and the south of Korea," a unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

The Korean War ended with an armistice and not a comprehensive peace treaty.

"The building of a peace mechanism is a process which the DPRK and the US should go through without fail in order to attain the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman added.

He pointed out that the main impediment to the resolution of the armistice issue in the Korean Peninsula is the continuing US hostile policy toward the DPRK, even though over half a century has passed since the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.

"Replacing the armistice mechanism by a peace mechanism would lead to putting an end to the US hostile policy toward the DPRK, which spawned the nuclear issue and the former's nuclear threat" against the DPRK, he said.

A formal peace treaty would "automatically result in the denuclearization of the peninsula," he added.

"Building a peace mechanism would not only help towards achieving peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and the rest of the world, but give a strong impetus to ... the forthcoming six-party talks aimed at settling the nuclear issue," he added.

The spokesman urged the United States and other countries concerned to duly acknowledge and respect the DPRK's conscientious stand "on the building of a peace mechanism and respond positively to it."