U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun says the U.S. is ready to engage in "constructive discussions" with North Korea.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Biegun made the remarks when he met with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, in Seoul earlier in the day as the two work to set agenda items for Sunday's Seoul-Washington summit.

The U.S. nuclear envoy said that Washington is prepared to engage in constructive discussions to make progress simultaneously and in parallel with fulfilling commitments made at the Singapore summit last year.

Lee added that efforts are being made to resume U.S.-North talks and that a positive atmosphere has been created through the exchange of letters between the U.S. and North Korean leaders as well as last week's visit to Pyongyang by China's president.

The remarks came after a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement the previous day that the U.S. should present a new proposal if it truly wants to resume nuclear negotiations. 

Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's American affairs department, also said in his statement on Thursday that the resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks is a matter between Pyongyang and Washington and is not something Seoul should intervene with.

[Photo : KBS News]