Washington’s former top nuclear negotiator is urging South Korea and the U.S. to begin talks with North Korea to address the nuclear issue.

Robert Gallucci told Yonhap News in Seoul on Thursday that high-ranking officials from both countries should meet with their North Korean counterparts for negotiations without preconditions.

Gallucci, a long-time supporter of dialogue as an efficient diplomatic solution to North Korean matters, cautioned that participants of such talks should be close to the top leaders of the countries they represent.

He also suggested that while negotiations are held, the North could suspend its nuclear tests, while the South and the U.S. hold off on joint military exercises.

Sanctions on the North, he added, are not the goals in and of themselves, but rather tools to lead the regime into dialogue, adding talks are necessary even to find out whether the North will be sincere in negotiations. 

[Photo : ]