S. Korea insists on denuclearized N. Korea

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- South Korea will not improve relations with North Korea until Pyongyang takes serious steps to halt its nuclear programs, officials in Seoul said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan Monday dismissed the possibility of an inter-Korean summit, despite recent conciliatory gestures from the North, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

"There is no real ground as yet to view the North's softening stance as an indication of a fundamental change in its position on the nuclear issue," Yu said at a seminar in Seoul.

In recent months, North Korea has released detained South Korean and U.S. citizens and allowed temporary reunions for family members living on opposite sides of the inter-Korean border.

This month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il also reportedly told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo that Pyongyang was preparing to rejoin denuclearization talks with a six-way forum involving the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.

Those gestures, however, were tempered by North Korean missile tests this year, Yonhap reported.