South Korea and the Czech Republic agreed Thursday to upgrade their relations to a strategic partnership to deepen cooperation in political, economic and other issues.
  

"I am confident that bilateral relations will be further expanded and deepened" on the occasion of (my) trip to South Korea, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye after their summit in Seoul.
  

The summit came as Seoul and Prague commemorate the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.
  

The two leaders also observed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the rail sector, a move that Seoul says could help South Korean companies' participation in building a high-speed railway and other transportation infrastructure in the Czech Republic.
  

The move came as the Czech Republic is pushing to build transportation infrastructure as part of its efforts to pursue economic growth.
  

South Korea began its high-speed train service in 2004 with trains built by France's TGV but has since been building its own trains, called the KTX-2.
  

South Korea also expressed its interest in buying a stake in the Czech Republic's project to build nuclear power plants.
  

Seoul built its first nuclear power plant in 1978 and has since built 20 plants domestically, while localizing more than 95 percent of the technology.
  

In 2009, a South Korean consortium won a $20.4 billion project to build four light water nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates by 2020 in South Korea's first export of nuclear reactors.
  

Separately, South Korea and the Czech Republic urged North Korea to return to the negotiating table for its denuclearization as they expressed serious concern over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
  

Park said at the news conference that the Czech Republic's successful transformation after the collapse of the Soviet-backed regime in Prague more than two decades ago will send a clear message to North Korea to ensure that the North should move toward the right path.
  

South Korea has repeatedly urged North Korea to embrace reform and openness by abandoning its nuclear weapons programs.
  

Still, North Korea has vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy against it. South Korea and the U.S. warned that the North's policy is a dead end for the country.
  

The six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program were last held in December 2008. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
  

South Korea and the Czech Republic also agreed to make joint efforts to improve North Korea's dismal human rights record, though they did not elaborate. (Yonhap)