The U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) began a third round of colonel-level talks Friday morning, an official for the UNC said.

The two sides met at the truce village of Panmunjom to arrange higher-level talks to discuss the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead, the UNC official said.

A multinational team of investigators concluded that a torpedo attack from the DPRK downed the warship Cheonan, a charge denied by Pyongyang.

At the last meeting on July 23, the UNC proposed a joint group to assess any armistice violations in the warship's sinking. The DPRK, meanwhile, urged the United States to unconditionally receive the inspection group dispatched by Pyongyang.

The latest meeting came two days after South Korea and the United States wrapped up their joint large-scale military exercises in a show of force against the DPRK.