A North Korean man defected to the South on Thursday, using a small wooden boat in a rare and risky crossing of the heavily patrolled maritime border in the Yellow Sea, military officials said.

The man expressed his desire to defect after landing on the frontline South Korean island of Baengnyeong Island, the South's joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.

Japan will revoke some of its unilateral sanctions on North Korea, the prime minister announced Thursday, after talks on the Cold War kidnapping of Japanese nationals.

Shinzo Abe said Tokyo judged Pyongyang, which pledged to re-investigate the disappearances of Japanese citizens, had shown sufficient willing in resolving the decades-old row and that this needed to be reciprocated.

China's president arrived in Seoul Thursday for a state visit seen as a snub to Beijing's traditional ally North Korea, whose nuclear weapons ambitions will dominate talks with South Korean leader Park Geun-Hye.

It was Xi Jinping's first trip as head of state to the perennially volatile Korean peninsula, and will mark his second summit with Park, who visited China last year.

A visit to South Korea this week by Chinese President Xi Jinping marks "an important milestone" in warming ties and is in stark contrast with Beijing's "chilly" relations with Pyongyang, a U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

Xi is due to visit Seoul on Thursday for talks with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye on a closely watched state visit which will include discussions on North Korea's nuclear program.

North Korea on Monday proposed that the two Koreas halt hostile military activities from later this week -- an apparent show of its desire for peace before a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Seoul.

The surprise suggestion from the North's top military body, the National Defense Commission (NDC), was made hours after Pyongyang confirmed its second missile test in recent days.

Talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang on the abduction of Japanese citizens during the Cold War opened in Beijing on Tuesday, with Tokyo's envoys giving the North Koreans a diplomatic rebuke over missile launches.

Sunday's test launch of two short-range Scud missiles was "extremely regrettable", Junichi Ihara, the head of Japan's delegation, told his North Korean counterpart Song Il-Ho as talks got under way at Pyongyang's embassy in the Chinese capital.

South Korea Tuesday rejected North Korea's proposal that the two sides halt hostile military activities as "nonsensical", and suggested it show sincerity by dumping its nuclear weapons.

"North Korea's proposal is nonsensical and lacks sincerity," the South's unification ministry said in a statement, referring to Monday's offer from the North's top military body, the National Defense Commission (NDC).

The United States on Monday called for the release of two American citizens facing trial in North Korea on charges that Pyongyang says include "perpetrating hostile acts."

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said earlier that suspicions about Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle had been confirmed by evidence and their own testimony.

North Korea on Monday proposed that the two Koreas halt hostile military activities from later this week -- an apparent show of its desire for peace before a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The surprise suggestion from the North's top military body, the National Defense Commission (NDC), was made hours after Pyongyang confirmed its second missile test in recent days.

North Korea said Monday it would put two detained American tourists on trial on charges including "perpetrating hostile acts."

The official KCNA news agency said suspicions about "hostile acts" by Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle had been confirmed by evidence and their testimony.