South Korean President Lee Myung-bak renewed his call for North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons programs and said his country is ready for talks with the North.

Lee spoke at the first news conference after his inauguration as president ahead of his trip to the United States.

"The government will be ready for dialogue with North Korea if it is helpful in settling the North's nuclear problem and improving the welfare of the North Korean people. The door is always open."

Lee said North Korea has to realize that de-nuclearization is also in its interest.

He added Seoul is willing to cooperate with other involved countries in persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

International negotiations have been stalled for months over differences on whether North Korea has met its commitment to fully declare its atomic programs under an agreement reached last year.

North Korea has claimed it gave the US the nuclear list in November. But Washington has said the North never produced a "complete and correct" list that would address all its past atomic activity.