South Korea said on Friday that North Korea must approach dialogue with Seoul with no strings attached if it genuinely wants to improve ties.

South Korea said on Friday that North Korea must approach dialogue with Seoul with no strings attached if it genuinely wants to improve ties.

"North Korea must come to dialogue without attaching preconditions if it genuinely wants to improve South-North ties," South Korean Unification Ministry Spokesman Lim Byeong-Cheol told journalists.

Earlier, Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-Un said in his New Year speech he was open to a summit with South Korea, but urged the United States and South Korea to stop their annual military exercises which he condemned as a "rehearsal of a nuclear war".

The North Korean leader added that any meaningful dialogue would be impossible under such "warlike atmosphere where war exercises targeting the other side are underway".

However, Lim ruled out the possibility of the South yielding to the North's pressure to stop the military drills, saying: "As to the North's unilateral demand for a halt to the South Korea-US military exercises, the government will cope with it from a principled position."

South Korea and the United States hold a series of joint military exercises every year, including one that starts in late February, code-named Key Resolve/Foal Eagle.

The South on Monday offered cabinet minister-level talks with the North this month either in Pyongyang or in Seoul.