President Lee Myung-bak’s senior secretary for foreign affairs and security issues says the members of the six-way nuclear talks, minus North Korea, will continue to discuss with one another the “grand bargain” proposed by Lee.

Kim Sung-hwan said Thursday that the “grand bargain” idea first emerged during preparations for the June South Korea-U.S. summit. At the time of the summit, Seoul and Washington were holding meetings on the issue, as efforts were under way to apply sanctions on Pyongyang.

He added that though they don’t differ much in meaning, Seoul decided to use the term “grand bargain” instead of “package deal” since the term “package” tends to be interpreted as “assistance.”

Kim said Seoul is not concerning itself with whether or not there are differences of opinion with Washington on the details of the bargain, as consultations are still under way. He instead stressed that the key is to persuade Pyongyang to agree to the proposal.