S. Korean FM cautious about N. Korea-US talks

South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday he remains cautious in general about the prospects for next week's bilateral nuclear talks between North Korea and the US, Yonhap News Agency reported."I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic," Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan was quoted as telling reporters in Seoul when asked about the upcoming Geneva talks, acknowledging the difficulty of persuading the North to give up its atomic weapons ambition.North Korean and US diplomats will hold a two-day meeting in Geneva from Monday to discuss the terms for reopening the stalled six-nation talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs.The six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan, have been at a standstill since April 2009 when the North quit the negotiating table and conducted its second nuclear test a month later.But Pyongyang has since repeatedly expressed its willingness to return to the aid-for-disarmament talks without any preconditions.In a rare interview with the Russian state news agency Itar-Tass on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il renewed calls that the regime is ready to return to the six-party talks "without any preconditions." However, South Korea and the US want the North to take "pre-steps" to prove its seriousness toward the talks, including a monitored shutdown of all nuclear activities and a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.The two countries have also insisted that Pyongyang halt its uranium enrichment program and allow UN inspectors back into the country. North Korea revealed last November that it is running a uranium enrichment facility.