North Korea has proposed resuming talks on a joint team with the South for the Beijing Olympics which had been suspended due to friction over Pyongyang's defiant missile test in July, an official said on Thursday.

The two Koreas have long sought to form a joint 2008 Olympic team but the North halted talks on co-operation projects in anger at Seoul's decision to suspend regular food aid after the North defied international warnings and test-fired missiles.

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The head of North Korea's Olympic committee sent a letter to the South's committee on November 10 asking for the resumption of talks on a joint team for Beijing Games, Cho Yong-nam, a Unification Ministry official in charge of cultural exchanges, told reporters.

Cho said no date has been set for resuming talks, adding that Seoul was reviewing the offer.

"We are looking at the proposal positively," said a ministry official who asked not to be named.

The two Koreas agreed just over a year ago that they would form a joint team for the 2006 Asian Games and the Beijing Olympics. They held a series of discussions.

The North proposed in its letter forming a unified delegation for next month's opening of the Asian Games. The two Koreas would then compete as separate teams.

Still technically at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with a truce and not a peace treaty, North and South Korea first considered competing as a joint team at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but years of acrimony and military tensions have prevented the idea from coming to pass.

In September, the International Olympic Committee brought officials from the team Koreas together in Switzerland to help get their talks back on track for forming a joint team.

Pyongyang wants equal representation of athletes from the North and South, while Seoul says selection should be on merit to create the most competitive team.

South Korea has a larger population and better funded sport associations than its northern neighbour.

North and South Korea have marched together at past Olympics, including this year's Winter Games in Turin, but competed as separate teams.