South Korea's top security official says time is running out for the six-way talks to resolve North Korea's nuclear dispute.

National security advisor Lee Jeong-seok, currently in Washington for talks on the atomic standoff, also called the nuclear issue equally important to the Iraq situation in relation to U.S. foreign policy priorities.

Lee made the remarks in reply to Korean correspondents, who asked after the viability of the six-way talks and whether he thought Washington would now place higher priority on the Iraq conflict and the Middle East peace process in the wake of Yasir Arafat's death.

Earlier, Lee met with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who was quoted as saying that Washington does not view South Korea’s past nuclear experiments as a serious matter but as agreeing on the need for mutual coordination to resolve the issue.

Lee also met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and agreed on the need to resume the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear standoff as soon as possible.