South Korea's Unification Minister has expressed hope that North Korea and the U.S. can resume talks before the end of the year to achieve a breakthrough on the issue of denuclearization. 

In a news conference this week, Kim Yeon-chul said that while there were differences between Washington and Pyongyang during their working-level talks in Sweden last month, the fact that dialogue has restarted allows both sides to reassess things from a different angle.

Kim also expressed regret over the current state of inter-Korean ties, saying it's important to seize the opportunity to advance the relationship. 

He said he hoped for plans to be put into action with North Korea and cited continued efforts to contact Pyongyang.

However, the two Koreas are known to have major differences over Pyongyang's request to remove South Korean-built tourist facilities from the Mount Geumgang resort.