The government has expressed condolences over the death of North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.

In a statement issued Thursday, Seoul noted that the late diplomat had led three rounds of inter-Korean ministerial talks.

But the government is not considering sending a telegram or a delegation to Pyongyang for now.

In recent years, South Korea's Unification Ministry has sent telegrams to the North following the deaths of two senior North Korean officials.

The North's Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday that Paek died at age 78 but did not say how or when.