But at the same time, North Korea called for an end to joint military exercises involving US and South Korean troops, accusing the annual drills of being nuclear war games aimed at the communist state.

The talks come ahead of preliminary negotiations in Beijing next week aimed at clearing the way for a new round of six-nation discussions to end the impasse over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

"A step forward toward a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue must be made at the Beijing talks," said South Korea's chief delegate to the inter-Korean ministerial talks, Unification Minister Jeong Se-Hyun.

"And at the third round of six-nation talks, tangible steps for the solution of the nuclear issue must be agreed upon," Jeong was quoted as saying in his keynote speech at the opening of Wednesday's discussions.

His North Korean counterpart Kwon Ho-Ung said in his own speech that the US-South Korea joint military exercises must be brought to an end in order to raise inter-Korean ties to a new level.

"In order to bring forward inter-Korean relations to make them fit to the spirit of the current times, joint US-South Korea military exercises must be terminated," Kwon said.

He insisted that the joint military drills were aimed at preparing attacks against the North.

"This is proven by the fact that the United States, having designated us as a target for nuclear pre-emptive attacks, lists the DPRK (North Korea) as a state sponsor of terrorism," he said.

An annual US State Department report released last Thursday kept unchanged a list of seven alleged state supporters of terrorism -- Iraq, Libya, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan.

The row over the Pyongyang's nuclear program has been simmering since October 2002 when Washington accused North Korea of breaking a 1994 nuclear freeze by launching a secret weapons drive.

Two rounds of six-nation talks -- involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- have so far failed to narrow differences between the United States and North Korea.

Washington demands a verifiable and irreversible dismantling of the North's nuclear weapons programs while Pyongyang insists it will freeze nuclear facilities only if Washington provides economic aid and a non-agression pledge.

Jeong also called for a meeting between military generals, agreed at the last high-level North-South talks, on tensions over disputed inter-Korean maritime borders.

The cabinet ministers' talks, now in their 14th phase, have been the highest channel of dialogue between the two Koreas since a landmark summit in 2000 took both countries into a new era of rapprochement.

At a dinner on Tuesday, North Korean Premier Pak Bong-Ju expressed gratitude for relief goods South Korea has sent to help victims of a train disaster last month.

South Korea, which originally offered one million dollars in aid, has assented to North Korea's 27 million dollar request for relief goods, including bulldozers, school equipment and color televisions.

Pak said about 400 injured were still in hospital at Sinuiju City near Ryongchon, where a train explosion on April 22 killed more than 150 people.

Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to the United Nations Han Song-Ryol in New Ryok on Tuesday told Yonhap News Agency that North Korea had agreed to accept proposed US aid for the victims.

He said the aid would help build up trust and improve bilateral relations with the United States.

WAR.WIRE