North Korea has sent an open letter to the South calling for reconciliation and an end to "hostile military acts". Published in North Korea's state media, the letter comes weeks before South Korea is due to hold joint military drills with the US. But few people are taking this letter at face value, according to reports; and South Korea dismissed the letter as having a "hidden motive". Correspondents say that tensions on the Korean peninsula traditionally rise ahead of the annual drills, which Pyongyang has condemned as provocative.