The United States reportedly offered North Korea partial sanctions relief for denuclearization measures during their working-level talks held in Sweden early this month.

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun said on Monday that the U.S. proposed a temporary halt to the embargo on North Korean coal and textile exports.

The regime's staple exports of coal, textiles, iron ore, lead and seafood were banned by the UN Security Council in 2017.

Citing a source familiar with discussions between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, Yomiuri said the proposed compensation was what the U.S. State Department had referred to as "creative ideas" that were presented during talks in Stockholm.

The U.S. and North Korea failed to reach an agreement during the October fifth meeting.  

The report said it was the first time a partial easing of sanctions had been proposed to Pyongyang before denuclearization, pointing out that the Donald Trump administration had previously maintained the stance of keeping sanctions "as is" until North Korea fully denuclearized.

In return, Washington reportedly asked North Korea to transfer all nuclear weapons and materials to the U.S., completely dismantle its nuclear facilities, ballistic missiles and biochemical weapons and suspend uranium enrichment.

[Photo : KBS News]