S. Korea rejects North's bid to bypass it

South Korea refuses to be pushed into margins in disarmament talks with North Korea, arguing that it is the most at risk by its neighbor's weapons.

"North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons pose the biggest threat to our security. So the issue must be discussed between South and North Korea," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan told reporters on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Pyongyang said it was ready to return to the six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations it had quit in April.

The North, however, conditioned its return to the negotiation table on holding talks with the United States first, to mend 'hostile relations'.

Yu challenged North Korea's position, arguing that Washington was not the one threatened by the North's nuclear weapons.

"I think it's not logical to say that North Korea's nuclear weapons are targeting the United States," he noted.

Washington expressed its willingness to launch bilateral discussions the North, provided that they would lead Pyongyang back to the six-nation talks with the South, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, which hosts the talks.

Yu suggested that China, Japan and South Korea discuss the North's offer at Saturday's summit in Beijing to confirm Pyongyang's real intentions through discussions with China.