A ranking North Korean diplomat says the North and the U.S. have agreed during an unofficial forum to work on solving their bilateral issues through dialogue and negotiations.

Following a seminar in Germany at the invitation of Aspen Institute, a U.S. think tank, North Korean foreign ministry director Ri Gun said the North and the U.S. held candid talks and shared their stances.

He said the two sides see that concerns must be resolved through dialogue and not through confrontation.

He, however, noted that the talks were unofficial exchange of opinions. The North Korean delegation held talks on a range of issues with former U.S. officials and experts in southern Germany on Monday and Tuesday.

A director of Aspen Institute's German chapter says the discussions touched on five topics: normalizing North Korea-U.S. ties, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, reducing conventional weapons, economic cooperation and support and the signing of a peace treaty.