South Korea and the United States have agreed that North Korea should return to the six-way nuclear talks without conditions.

The agreement came when Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Washington on Saturday and held bilateral strategic talks. Such talks were held for the first time in four years.

The two officials also agreed that any future bilateral talks between the U.S. and North Korea should be directly linked with the six-nation talks.

After her meeting with Yu, Clinton told reporters that she was encouraged by signs that North Korea may be getting ready to return to stalled nuclear talks, adding that she hopes for the North’s swift return to the negotiating table.

Yu said Seoul and Washington shared the view that the international community should continue to seek both dialogue and sanctions with Pyongyang until it returns to the six-nation talks.

On the North’s request to hold talks on adopting a peace treaty, Yu and Clinton stressed that discussions on the issue would take place after progress is made on efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula as stated on the September 19th, 2005 Joint Statement.