North Korea's vice foreign minister has defended Pyongyang's dual pursuit of nuclear and economic development during talks with his Angolan counterpart, the North's state media said Tuesday.

The talks were held in Angola on Friday between the North Korean delegation, led by vice foreign minister Sin Hong-chol and Manuel Domingos Augusto, secretary of state for foreign affairs of the African country, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Sin stressed that the communist country is steadfastly seeking the "byeongjin" policy of simultaneously developing the economy and nuclear weapons, the report said.

Angola has recently submitted its action plan on how to implement the U.N. Security Council's sanctions which were imposed in March to punish North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in the following month.

It marked the first time that Angola has handed in such an implementation report on relevant sanctions on the North since 2006.

Angola and North Korea have kept friendly ties since they established a diplomatic relationship in 1976.

Under the recently submitted action plan, Angola cited bans on exports of aircraft fuel and mineral products to North Korea on top of its beefed-up inspection of cargo planes and ships moving in and out of Pyongyang, according to U.S.-based media outlets.

The KCNA earlier said that the delegation led by Sin left Pyongyang last Monday to visit some African countries.

An official at Seoul's unification ministry said that though the North Korean vice foreign minister's visit to Africa is not a rare move, Pyongyang could be mindful of South Korea's diplomatic activity.

South Korea is seeking to increase cooperation with African countries that have close ties with North Korea, including Uganda.

Seoul's move is aimed at weakening Pyongyang's military network with Africa and beefing up cooperation over the international sanctions regime imposed on Pyongyang.

"It could be an expression of anxiety against South Korea's (brisk) diplomatic overtures in Africa or it could be aimed at countering Seoul's move," the official said. (Yonhap)