The message came during the first official visit to the city-state by the Stalinist state's foreign minister, Paek Nam-Sun.

There was no immediate word on Paek's response. In a defiant showing by North Korea at Asian security talks in Kuala Lumpur last week, the reclusive regime snubbed a campaign to rejoin the so-called six-party talks.

North Korea said in February 2005 that it had built nuclear weapons.

"Minister Paek updated Mr Lee on North Korea's position with regard to its nuclear programme. Mr Lee reiterated Singapore's support for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful and diplomatic means, and urged North Korea to return to the six-party talks to resolve the issue," said a statement from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's office.

Paek's counterpart George Yeo called for Pyongyang to return to the talks "soon," the foreign affairs ministry said.

It said both ministers "also exchanged views on the various meetings at the ASEAN Regional Forum and the recent missile tests by North Korea."

Their talks followed a brief exchange of gunfire between South and North Korean troops Monday on their heavily fortified border. No casualties were reported.

The North's main ally China led a campaign to breathe new life into the stalled nuclear talks on the sidelines of last week's ASEAN Regional Forum in Malaysia.

China made the push along with South Korea, which also favours a softly-softly approach towards its neighbour. But North Korea was unmoved.

North Korea, which left the multilateral talks in November and caused further outrage last month when it test-fired seven missiles, said it would not return until US financial sanctions against it were dropped.

North Korea said it was also considering withdrawing from the ASEAN Regional Forum, one of the few diplomatic gatherings it attends.

The regime has rejected United Nations Security Council condemnation of its missile tests, saying they were part of its legitimate right to self-defence.

Singapore earlier this month called the tests "provocative" and appealed to Pyongyang not to repeat them.

Analysts said North Korea's behaviour at last week's Malaysian meeting managed to alienate even its few friends.

But Singapore's prime minister and Paek "noted the good relations between North Korea and Singapore, and agreed that there was scope to strengthen bilateral cooperation," the statement from Lee's office said.

An official from the North Korean embassy told AFP he had not yet received details of the discussions on Tuesday. Ahead of the meeting, a North Korean embassy official said they would hold discussions on "bilateral cooperation".

Singapore officials said Paek's delegation was also due to visit the Jurong Town Corporation, an industrial land developer, before the visit ends on Thursday.

The stalled nuclear talks involved North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

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