Diplomats of South Korea and the United States have held talks in Washington to discuss joint efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

Wednesday's talks between Rim Kap-soo, director general at the ministry's peninsula peace regime bureau, and Jung Pak, the deputy U.S. special representative for North Korea, came as last week's restoration of inter-Korean communication lines fueled hopes for the resumption of nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang.

"The two sides reaffirmed that to achieve substantive progress in the Korean Peninsula peace process, the swift resumption of dialogue between the South and the North and between the North and the United States is essential," the ministry said in a press release.

"They had concrete, in-depth consultations on ways for the early resumption of talks between the North and the U.S. as well as for progress in inter-Korean relations," it added.

The two Koreas reactivated communication lines on July 27, 13 months after the reclusive regime unilaterally severed them in anger over South Korean activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

Since then, Seoul has been cranking up diplomacy with the U.S.

and other concerned countries to advance its drive to build peace with the North. (Yonhap)