SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States and renewed its commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula in a New Year's message Friday.

Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward the regime, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country.

The latest commitment brightened the prospect that Pyongyang may rejoin the stalled international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for aid and other concessions. Washington has sought to coax Pyongyang to return to the talks, which also include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

The North has often said it is keen to replace an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty, and forge diplomatic relations with the U.S. as a way to win security guarantees — demands Washington says should be linked to Pyongyang's verifiable denuclearization.

"The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship" between North Korea and the U.S., the North said in an editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency and in major newspapers.

North Korea's traditional New Year's Day statement, examined annually for clues to the regime's policies for the coming year, also said the North is committed to establishing "a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations."

The U.S. and North Korea agreed on the need to resume the negotiations during a trip to Pyongyang by President Barack Obama's special envoy in early December, but North Korea did not make a firm commitment on when it would rejoin the talks.