Seoul , South Korea ( CNN ) -- North Korea on Monday proposed that `` all hostile military activities '' with South Korea `` come to a complete halt '' this week , but it attached a number of conditions that Seoul is likely to reject . The North 's highest military body , the National Defense Commission , issued a statement calling for South Korea to halt intrusions at sea and firing drills near islands close to the two countries ' disputed maritime border . The commission also said it wanted South Korea to stop `` attracting '' U.S. military hardware , including strategic bombers and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier , into the region . And it asked that South Korea cancel its planned joint military drills with the United States in August . Seoul and Washington have dismissed previous demands from North Korea for joint U.S.-South Korean drills to be called off . North Korea said that ending the hostilities , starting Friday , would help improve the atmosphere between the two sides ahead of `` exchanges and contacts that are scheduled to actively happen between North and South . '' The South Korean Defense Ministry declined to comment on the North Korean statement Monday . Tensions have flared periodically between the two Koreas in recent months , notably along their maritime boundary , known as the Northern Limit Line . In late March , the two sides both fired hundreds of shells across their western sea border . Last month , the South Korean Navy fired warning shots after three North Korean patrol boats crossed the line . And a few days later , North Korea fired at least two shells near a South Korean patrol boat in the Yellow Sea . North Korea has also carried out a series of missile and rocket launches into the sea , drawing criticism from South Korea , the United States and the United Nations . North and South Korea remain technically at war after the Korean War ended in a cease-fire , not a peace treaty , in 1953 . CNN 's K.J . Kwon reported from Seoul ; Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong .
NEW : The South Korean Defense Ministry declines to comment on the situation . North Korea asks for an end to hostilities starting Friday . But it makes a number of decisions unlikely to sit well with South Korea . They include avoiding intrusions at sea and canceling joint exercises with the North .