SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- Direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang are the first step toward halting North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Thursday.

He made the remarks while meeting with reporters at the government complex in Seoul, amid speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump might seek to rekindle his personal diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which produced three bilateral meetings during his first term.

"The first gateway to stopping North Korea's nuclear program is a meeting between the two sides, and we should work hard to support it," he said.

"Halting the program is in the best interest of everyone involved," Chung added.

Trump reiterated Wednesday (U.S. time) that he maintains good relations with Kim, and said he will meet the North Korean leader later this year, without providing further details.

"Now is the time for the U.S. and North Korea, and time for Trump and Kim," Chung said, adding he hoped "the momentum between the two sides gets on track and expands into a framework" that eventually includes South Korea and China as well.

Chung said it was "up to each person to interpret" the statement by Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's powerful sister, released late Wednesday, in which she appeared to dismiss Trump's dialogue overture by calling the reduction in South Korea-U.S. military exercises "unworthy of comment."

While she said she was "not aware of" any communication between her brother and Trump, she said "our head of state has good memories and feelings about Trump personally."

The comment appeared to separate Kim's personal rapport with Trump from North Korea's broader view of U.S. policy as hostile, leaving room for future engagement.

"The top priority is formally ending the war and establishing a peace regime, so the two sides do not have to fight each other," the ministry said in response to the statement.

The 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

In his Liberation Day address Saturday, President Lee Jae Myung proposed that the two Koreas begin talks on ending their long-running war and build a peace regime on the peninsula.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr

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