North Korea called on South Korea on Wednesday to take "practical measures" to resume dialogue, criticizing Seoul for not having the will to break the prolonged deadlock in inter-Korean relations.

The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea also blamed U.S. "interference" for the current stalemate, saying that it will not believe the South's will for dialogue if the current situation continues.

"To talk about dialogue without taking practical measures is not an attitude to truly settle the issue of the North-South relations," the committee said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

It added that there are many unresolved issues between the two Koreas but there is not a single issue that the South Korean government can resolve without "the U.S. interference," saying that it is critical to "setting right the abnormal master-servant relations with the U.S."

The statement comes after the South Korean government proposed working-level talks with the North late last year to help resolve pending issues, including family reunions.

The North's committee later responded by demanding that Seoul lift its sanctions first imposed on the communist country following the North's torpedoing of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March 2010. (Yonhap)