South Korea on Sunday welcomed the agreement made between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) and the United States to reopen the six-party nuclear talks later this month.

"Once the talks resume, participants in the six-party talks should have serious and earnest talks so as to achieve substantial progress in resolving the nuclear issue and make the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons," South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement on Sunday.

The statement came one day after an announcement made by the DPRK's main media that it will return to the six-party talks aimed to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula on July 25 in Beijing.

The agreement was made in a meeting between the DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing on Saturday.

"So far, concerning parties in the six-party talks have made constructive diplomatic efforts to reopen the six-party talks and our government played an active role in this process," the statement said, adding "The decision to hold a fourth round of talks is a fruit of these efforts."

The statement also said the South Korean government will continue to play the active and positive role in the process of solving the nuclear issue.

South Korea is also to hold a National Security Council meeting to discuss following measures later in the day after the DPRK agreed to rejoin the multilateral talks.

The DPRK's announcement also came several days before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Seoul tour on July 12-13.

The recent nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula occurred in October 2002. In order to peacefully end the nuclear issue, China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan have convened three rounds of six-party nuclear talks in Beijing.

However, the fourth round of the multilateral talks failed to be convened as the DPRK refused to attend the talks, citing US hostile policy.

The DPRK announced it would suspend participation in the six- party nuclear talks indefinitely in February.

A recent remark made by the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il that "the DPRK is willing to rejoin the six-party talks even in July, if the US respects and recognizes it" reignited hope that the stalled meeting would be resumed soon.

Kim made this remarks when he met South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in Pyongyang in late June.

Source: Xinhua