South Korea's defense ministry said Thursday it's still waiting for North Korea's response to its recent proposal for military talks on easing border tension.

On Monday, the ministry suggested a bilateral meeting be held on Friday at the truce village of Panmunjom in what would be the first inter-Korean military talks in nearly three years.

"There is no response from North Korea yet in connection with the offer of South-North military talks," the ministry said in a statement issued at around 5:30 p.m.

The government will be waiting for Pyongyang's reply "until today" and there is no plan to release a position on the issue within the day, it added.

Meanwhile, a defense official here said South Korea and the US are keeping a close eye on the possibility of additional provocations from the North amid a foreign news report that the unpredictable nation seems to be gearing up for a test launch of another long- or intermediate-range ballistic missile within the next two weeks.

"Our military is operating surveillance assets in cooperation with the US against North Korea's ballistic missile threats," the Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. (Yonhap)