Though numerous obstacles stand in the way of renewed aid-for-disarmament talks, Lee’s comment – coming after weeks of more hawkish rhetoric – suggests that South Korea won’t rely solely on military muscle to pressure its neighbor.

Lee used urgent terms to describe the need to resume negotiations, calling on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program within a year.

South Korea has “no choice but to resolve the problem of dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program diplomatically through the six-party talks,” Lee was quoted as saying by Seoul’s Yonhap news agency.