An expert on North Korea says inter-Korean summit talks could become possible if no U.N. sanctions are imposed on Pyongyang and preparations are made for South-North general-level talks.

Professor Park Han-shik at the University of Georgia said he heard of such a possibility from a reliable official source in the communist state.

Park, who was in Pyongyang for five days earlier this month, said during a lecture at Yonsei University on Tuesday that discussions on the “Cheonan” incident should come to an end as the U.N. Security Council has addressed the issue in a presidential statement. He then stressed the need for the two Koreas to hold discussions on opening a bilateral summit.

On the North’s succession process, Park said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s efforts to lay the groundwork to hand over power to his son, Jong-un, will begin when the North convenes its Political Bureau in early September for the first time in 44 years.

On Kim’s health, Park said that he was told by North Korean officials that the reclusive leader is healthy enough to tour facilities every other day.