SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- Resuming direct talks between the United States and North Korea is the most "practical" solution to halting Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, a senior unification ministry official said Friday, amid concerns that Washington's overture to Pyongyang could sideline Seoul.

"Right at this moment, North Korea is strengthening its nuclear capabilities. And inter-Korean exchange is at a standstill," the official said while meeting with reporters.

"What engine is there to move this forward, other than the resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang?" the official added, arguing such concerns overlook the practical reality of the situation.

Expressing hope over U.S. President Donald Trump's olive branch to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the official said the recent developments could mean more than "a spark being lit," but rather "tectonic plates shifting."

Such dialogue, the official said, could lead to a "grand plan" to replace the current "unstable armistice system" on the peninsula with a more stable and lasting peace regime.

South and North Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice.

Scaling back the joint Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, along with Trump's vagueness on whether denuclearization would be part of any summit agenda with Kim, can be seen as offering "the right answers" to the conditions Kim set in February for talks with Washington, the ministry official insisted.

In February, Kim said Pyongyang has no reason not to get along with the U.S. if Washington withdraws its hostile policy against the North.

Pyongyang has long denounced combined military drills as the centerpiece of Washington's hostile policy and as war rehearsals, and it has repeatedly insisted its nuclear program is now "irreversible."

The first step toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the official said, is to halt North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.

"You can only reverse a car's course once you put the brakes on. You cannot put it in reverse while it is still speeding forward."

Asked about the statement by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, released the previous night, the official called for respect toward the leader of another nation.

She accused President Lee Jae Myung of "double dealing" for welcoming Trump's order to reduce military exercises while calling for stronger South Korean defense capabilities.

"A core principle of becoming a normal country is to treat the other side with consideration and respect," the official said, calling on the North to join the South in working toward a lasting peace regime that will benefit both sides.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr

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