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Seoul and Washington may consider Pyongyang's position on U.S. financial sanctions against it in future talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, though the two issues are not directly related, South Korea's top diplomat said Wednesday.

"I believe it would be most appropriate (for the United States and North Korea) to separately discuss the financial issue and the issue of ways to implement the September 19 agreement," Song Min-soon said in a regular press briefing, referring to a 2005 agreement from the nuclear talks in which Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic benefits and security guarantees.

"Nevertheless, the fact that the two issues affect each other, whether we like it or not, will be considered," he added.

The minister's remarks may represent Washington's efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear standoff with the communist nation.

But it also represents a shift in U.S. policy not to bring the financial issue to the nuclear negotiations that also involve South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, or to hold direct talks with North Korea outside of the six-party framework.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington's top negotiator in the six-nation talks, held talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in Berlin on Tuesday in what Song described as an "inter-sessional meeting" that apparently only involved the two.

Song said the U.S. negotiator was laying the groundwork to make sure the next round of the nuclear talks brings tangible results.

During the latest round of the Beijing-based negotiations in December, Washington reportedly proposed a package of incentives for Pyongyang which, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul, were hard for the impoverished North to turn down.

Song said, "The two met several times yesterday and are scheduled to meet again today, so it would not be an appropriate time for us to disclose what kind of reaction the North Korean side made" toward the U.S. proposal, but said the outcome of the Berlin meeting would greatly affect the course of the six-party talks.

"We will be able to begin to review where we will go from here once the Berlin meeting is over," he added.

The nuclear negotiations resumed last month after a 13-month North Korean boycott, but the talks ended without any progress while North Korean negotiators insisted they would not discuss the nuclear issue until the U.S. financial sanctions are lifted.

Washington blacklisted a Macau bank in September 2004, accusing it of aiding Pyongyang's illegal financial activities such as counterfeiting and money laundering, which led to a subsequent freeze of some US$24 million in North Korean deposits at the bank.

Financial officials from the U.S. and North Korea are expected to meet next week to discuss the sanctions issue. On Wednesday, Hill confirmed his meeting with Kim, saying he had held six hours of talks with North Korean envoys on Tuesday and further discussions were planned.

"We anticipate some additional discussions this afternoon and perhaps tomorrow morning," the U.S. envoy said at an event organized by the American Academy in Berlin.

During the meeting, Hill said, he hoped the six-party talks would resume in January.

Seoul, Jan. 17 (Yonhap News)