South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan have agreed to hold a preliminary meeting of the members of the six-party talks prior to the official resumption of the multilateral nuclear dialogue.

A key South Korean government official said Monday that China, as the chair of the six-way dialogue, is working to bring all the participating countries together in any possible form and that all members of the talks, excluding North Korea, have agreed to meet to try to prompt a resumption.

North Korea has been rejecting participation in the preliminary meeting, adhering to the opinion that it would not partake in such talks unless it first has bilateral interaction with the U.S.