North Korea showed no signs of unusual military movements on Thursday as it continued its winter military drills, a South Korean military official said.

"Any unusual movements have not been spotted," the official said.

The drills come after the North proposed that the rival Koreas halt "all acts of provoking and slandering" from Jan. 30, a day before the Lunar New Year's Day, a major holiday celebrated by both Koreas.

The North has temporarily stopped sending propaganda leaflets through the western border, according to South Korean officials familiar with the issue, a move widely seen as a gesture of goodwill.

The leaflets, under the name of the Korean People's Army, threatened to mercilessly strike Marine Corps bases on South Korea's islands near their western sea border.

Meanwhile, the North remained mum for the fourth straight day on Seoul's offer to hold reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

On Monday, South Korea proposed that the sides stage reunions at Mount Kumgang, a scenic mountain resort on North Korea's east coast, from Feb. 17 to Feb. 22.

South Korea also proposed holding Red Cross talks with North Korea on Wednesday at the border village of Panmunjom to discuss details of the reunions. The proposed meeting never took place as the North kept its silence.

South Korea made the proposal days after the North offered to hold family reunions at a "convenient time" for Seoul in the latest of its conciliatory gestures toward South Korea.

The North has yet to make any response to South Korea. (Yonhap)