North Korea says it has decided to return to the six-party nuclear talks on the premise that the meeting will discuss and resolve the issue of U.S. sanctions.

The North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that officials from Pyongyang and Washington met in bilateral and multilateral talks in Beijing Tuesday and discussed ways to resume the dialogue.

The statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reiterated the North's claim that its July missile test-launches and October ninth nuclear test were defensive measures against U.S. financial sanctions and a perceived nuclear threat.

The last round of six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia took place in November last year.