South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha will meet her European Union counterparts at their regular meeting in Brussels on March 19 to update them on developments.

Leaders from the two sides of the Korean peninsular are to meet for historic talks next month and the North is willing to ditch its nuclear programme if its national security -- and that of its leadership -- is guaranteed, South Korea's national security adviser said after returning from a meeting in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc -- which has tough sanctions in force against the North -- was ready to do what it could to support the moves.

"We will be pleased to host the foreign minister of South Korea, foreign minister Kang with whom i was in contact today, to the foreign affairs council on March 19," Mogherini said.

"With her we will have updates on the state of play but also work on the ways in which the European Union can support these first encouraging steps we're seeing on the Korean peninsula."

North Korea is subject to multiple rounds of EU and UN sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic weapons programmes but has stepped up testing over the past year in defiance of repeated warnings from the international community.