SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Tuesday it would reject a proposal by South Korea to hold bilateral nuclear talks, even though an apology for last year's attacks on the South is no longer a prerequisite for such talks to take place.

South Korean officials said this week that Seoul is willing to hold a bilateral meeting with Pyongyang to discuss nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula before resuming multilateral denuclearization talks, separating South Korea from its adamant demand for an apology over the two deadly cross-border attacks last year.