By DPA,
Seoul: Seoul and Tokyo Thursday called on Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks without preconditions.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan and his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada, speaking after a meeting in Seoul, rejected North Korean demands that UN sanctions against it be lifted before it accepted to rejoin the six-party talks.
Yu said that progress should be made on North Korean nuclear disarmament before any sanction-lifting could be considered.
Recent talks between China and North Korea are a positive indication that six-way talks could resume shortly, Yu said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said earlier this week that he was prepared to restart talks.
No date was fixed for the next session of the six-party talks, which also include South Korea, Japan, the US, Russia and China. Pyongyang walked out of the talks in April.