South Korea said Friday that senior North Korean diplomats' ongoing talks with American experts could be an occasion to prod Pyongyang into changing its course over its nuclear programs.

Choe Son-hui, director-general handling US affairs, and Jang Il-hun, deputy ambassador to the UN mission, are in Geneva for the non-governmental "track 2" meeting.

Their counterparts are Joel Wit, editor of the website 38 North, and Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Both used to work at the State Department under Democratic administrations.

Seoul's unification ministry said that it does not attach special meaning to the informal meeting.

"But we have expectations that North Korea could change its behavior by discussing policy directions (with American experts)," Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing.

It marks the first such meeting since Donald Trump was elected US president last week.

Experts said that the rare meeting may help Pyongyang explore the direction of the incoming Trump administration's North Korea policy, including possible dialogue between the two countries over the North's nukes.

Seoul, however, added that Choe's US interlocutors do not seem to have ties to Trump. (Yonhap)