South Korea's top diplomat said that the multilateral nuclear talks over denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) might reopen soon, a slight departure from his previously more cautious stance, local media reported Thursday.

Seoul's foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan told the parliament's Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee a day ago that the talks, which involve China, South Korea, DPRK, the United States, Japan and Russia, would resume soon, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency said.

But he did not give an exact date, according to Yonhap.

"(The talks) will surely be held, because that's what meets the interests of North Korea (the DPRK)," the minister reportedly said, after answering positively to the question on whether he is certain about the resumption of the currently stalled six-way negotiations.

Local media have interpreted his remark as a possible sign that the six-party talks could be reconvened sooner than expected, considering a more cautious remark by Yu earlier this month that it was hard to predict whether the recent exchange of high-level visits between China and the DPRK would lead to the resumption of the talks.