"Despite the lull since the Hanoi summit, North Korea and the US still maintain the principle of resolving the issue through diplomatic negotiations," he added. "What is important now is to manage the situation in a stable way and resume North Korea-US talks as soon as possible."

Nuclear talks have been stalled since the February summit held in Hanoi between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump ended without a deal as they failed to find common ground over the scope of Pyongyang's denuclearization steps and Washington's sanctions relief.

Inter-Korean relations have also remained in limbo recently, with North Korea staying lukewarm over cross-border projects and cooperation.

The North has been mum for about a month on South Korean President Moon Jae-in's proposal to hold another summit with its leader Kim as part of efforts to break the logjam in cross-border relations and stalemated denuclearization negotiations.

Unification Minister Kim shrugged off concerns over a protracted lull in inter-Korean relations, emphasizing that South Korea is strongly committed to carrying out agreements that the leaders of the two Koreas reached through their three summits last year, based on which he expected momentum for dialogue to recover soon. (Yonhap)