The front page of the Rodong Sinmun on March 5 / Yonhap

North Korean state media outlets have been refraining from criticism of the United States despite the no-deal breakdown of last week's second summit between leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The restraint appears to reflect soul-searching by Pyongyang over whether and how to proceed with the nuclear negotiations with Washington after the embarrassing and unexpected collapse of the talks with Trump in Hanoi.

On Tuesday, Uriminzokkiri, one of the North's propaganda websites, called for escalating the "peace atmosphere" on the Korean Peninsula, saying Pyongyang remains firm in its commitment to ending hostile military relations with the South.

"Joint military exercises with foreign forces, which serve as a root cause of tensions in the Korean Peninsula situation, should no longer be allowed, and the introduction of war equipment, including strategic assets, should be completely halted," it said.

Last week's talks had been widely expected to produce another denuclearization-for-concession deal after the one reached at the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore last June. But the two days of talks were abruptly cut short and ended without an agreement.