S. Korea still waiting for N. Korea's response on bilateral nuclear talks

(ATTN: ADDS details, photo in last five paras)
SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is still waiting for North Korea's response to its proposal to hold bilateral talks to gauge the North's sincerity on denuclearization, despite a recent series of fiery threats from the communist neighbor, Seoul's foreign minister said Thursday.
Restarting inter-Korean dialogue is a key step toward resuming the multilateral nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea. The six-party talks, dormant for more than two years, involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
South Korean officials said this week that Seoul is willing to bilaterally discuss a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula with Pyongyang, separating the issue from its demand for an apology over last year's deadly attacks by the North. But the North has spurned the proposal and warned of a retaliatory "sacred war" against the South for allegedly slandering its leaders.
"As a matter of fact, the ball is now in North Korea's court," Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan told reporters.
"At this stage, North Korea shows no signs of responding to our proposal. But we continue to make efforts to persuade the North to return to dialogue without giving up," Kim said.
Last week, Kim and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed in Washington that Seoul and Pyongyang must first hold bilateral talks before any moves are made to reopen the six-party forum.
The talks have been stalled since April 2009 when North Korea quit, angered by a fresh round of U.N. sanctions. The North conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
South Korea, the U.S. and other regional powers are pushing to reopen the six-party talks in a three-step approach in which North Korea will meet South Korea first and then the U.S. for one-on-one talks on denuclearization before resuming the multilateral process.
"There is a consensus among the six-party nations that inter-Korean dialogue should be prioritized," Kim said. "We will continue to persuade North Korea under the consensus."
When asked about a possible meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Indonesia next month, Kim replied, "There would be no reason to shun a meeting if Pak offers to meet."


Since 2000, when inter-Korean relations warmed, foreign ministers from the two Koreas had occasionally met on the sidelines of the annual security forum.
However, no such meetings have taken place since 2008, as tensions have grown over the North's long-range missile launch, nuclear defiance and Seoul's get-tough policy toward Pyongyang.
North Korea's Pak has yet to publicly announce his participation in next month's forum in Indonesia, but an official at the South's Foreign Ministry said Kim and Pak could meet together at this year's security forum.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula spiked last year following the North's sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a southern island. The two attacks killed a total of 50 South Koreans.
North Korea maintains that it has nothing to apologize for in connection with the attacks.