South Korea's top official on North Korean affairs called on Tuesday for a summit with the hardline communist state to ease tensions sparked by its nuclear weapons test.
Unification Minister Lee Jong-Seok, whose conciliatory approach to the North has come under fire since the shock October 9 test, refused to say whether Seoul was actively pushing for a summit.
"There are certain factions that say the government is to blame for the North Korean nuclear test that took place," he told a parliamentary committee on unification, foreign affairs and trade.
"But I believe there needs to be an inter-Korean summit despite such claims," said Lee, who last week announced his resignation, effective from next month.
"I believe a summit is a very useful means for dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons and (improving) North-South relations," he was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying.
Since the test, critics have poured scorn on the South's "sunshine" policy of engagement with the North, with some terming it appeasement. Polls show that while there is little support for breaking all contact with the North, a majority want the policy revised.
The Koreas have remained technically at war since the end of the 1950-53 conflict. Their first and only summit was in June 2000 between then-president of South Korea Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
Kim Jong-Il promised to visit Seoul during that 2000 meeting in Pyongyang but has yet to do so.
Kim Dae-Jung planned a second visit to Pyongyang earlier this year, but it was cancelled amid growing tensions over the North's July missile tests and its nuclear programme.
South Korea's opposition has claimed President Roh Moo-hyun and his ruling Uri Party may be trying to arrange a second summit before the December 2007 presidential election to secure an electoral boost.
Minister Lee also raised the prospect of a softer US line towards the North
if it returned to stalled six-nation talks on scrapping its nuclear programme.
"There are claims that (United Nations) sanctions on North Korea would continue even if the North returns to the six-party nuclear talks, but there will be pliancy" once it agreed to return, he said.
"And in the process, (the US) would have more flexibility," he added.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has, however, said UN sanctions will remain in force until North Korea has made progress on denuclearisation.
The top US general in South Korea, B.B. Bell, said Monday he expected the North to stage another test as part of efforts to develop its nuclear programme -- a move analysts say would trigger far tougher sanctions.
The North has boycotted the six-way talks since last November in protest at a US move to freeze its assets in a Macau bank.
South Korea announced it would host a three-day forum this week to try to spur foreign investment and dispel concern over the nuclear test.
It comes amid falling foreign direct investment this year, and fears that nuclear jitters may scare away more investors.
"It will provide an opportunity for the government to dispel concerns over the impact of the North's nuclear test on our economy," a commerce ministry official told AFP.