The South Korean and U.S. government remained cautious over reports that a high-ranking North Korea envoy to China expressed willingness to talk with the U.S. and other nations, saying they need more details on the purported overture.

On a trip to Beijing, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s special envoy, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, was quoted as saying his country is willing to take China’s advice and resume joint talks with the U.S. and other nations.

Choe first made the remarks in a meeting with Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked leader on Thursday, according to local media.

Reports said Choe reiterated the intention during a meeting with Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, the next day.

Choe’s comments may signal a significant change in North Korea’s attitude. Pyongyang churned out ferocious military threats in March and April but tensions have eased in recent weeks.

But Seoul remained cautious about the suggestion by the unpredictable and reclusive communist neighbor.

“It is at the moment, where the North Korean envoy’s visit to China is still on-going, not fully clear what was discussed between the two countries,” Unification Ministry spokesperson Kim Hyung-suk said. “It is premature to evaluate (the offer).”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young also said his agency will “defer” its assessment of Choe’s trip.

“The government is closely watching Choe’s activities in China,” he said in a news briefing. “North Korea must follow through on its promises and obligations to the international community and show a sincere attitude.”

Washington echoed the cautious approach.

“I don’t think we know enough one way or another to characterize it,” State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.

He said Choe’s trip is underway and the U.S. has yet to receive an update from China on it. A day earlier, Ventrell said Beijing gave prior notice to Washington on Choe’s visit.

Ventrell stressed that North Korea knows what it has to do for the resumption of negotiations with the U.S.

Washington has repeatedly called for Pyongyang to demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization through actions, not words.

The U.S. is also striving to boost cooperation among the five nations involved in the now-suspended six-way nuclear talks with North Korea. The other members are South Korea, Japan and Russia.

“We’re committed to keeping the five parties of the six-party process very much united and focused on denuclearization ... our core goal in that regard,” Ventrell said.

Choe’s visit to China is being closely watched amid expectations that Beijing may be able to broker talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

Choe is one of the most influential North Korean officials in the Kim regime.

“North Korea lauds China’s enormous efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and push for a return to talks and consultations for the problems of the Korean peninsula, and is willing to accept China’s suggestion to have talks with all parties,” Choe told the Chinese official, according to China’s state broadcast arm, CCTV.

The two Koreas, meanwhile, exchanged barbs over the so-called May 24 measures, a set of sanctions imposed on Pyongyang after the sinking of one of the South’s warships in 2010 that effectively put an end to most cross-border exchanges.

The government has maintained that since the North instigated the provocation that left 46 sailors dead, it is responsible for coming up with measures that will prevent a repeat of such an attack.

“In the spirit of correcting the wrong they committed, the communist country must make the first move (to show remorse) that can be accepted by the South Korean public,” Kim Hyung-suk said in a news conference, making clear that the South will not take the initiative on this matter under current circumstances.

North Korea’s mouthpieces including the KCNA, on the other hand, criticized that the new South Korean government was maintaining the “confrontation” even after the administration change and that it was heading for the worse.

Seoul’s stance comes as inter-Korean relations aggravated after North Korea pulled out all of its 53,000 workers from the Gaesong Industrial Complex that resulted in the temporary shutdown of the cooperative venture in the North. Tensions have been fueled further by the North detonating its third nuclear device in February.

Under the sanctions, Seoul banned all North Korean ships from entering South Korean waters, halted all cross-border trade and barred visits by South Korean nationals to the North.

(From news reports)