U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has urged North Korea to return to dialogue rather than engaging in dangerous provocations.

A delegation headed by Steinberg met with Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak at the foreign ministry Wednesday.

Steinberg said that rather than continuing to take more dangerous and provocative actions, North Korea should recognize the better course is to reengage and get back on the path of negotiations toward denuclearization.

The delegation also met Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and discussed Korea-U.S. cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan and ways to overcome the global economic downturn.

The U.S. delegation arrived in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss follow-up measures to Pyongyang's detonation of a nuclear device on May 25th.