Seoul, South Korea ? South Korea today accepted a North Korean proposal to have Cabinet-level talks in Pyongyang at the end of the month, ahead of multilaterial talks in China to discuss the North’s suspected nuclear weapons programs.

South Korea’s Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun accepted the North Korean offer in a telephone message, his office said.

The talks are slated to take place April 27-29 in the North Korean capital, just days before the United States, North Korea and China are expected to meet in Beijing to discuss the North’s suspected nuclear weapons programs.

The two Koreas initially had arranged to have Cabinet-level talks earlier this month, but those talks were canceled when Pyongyang failed to confirm them.

On Sunday, President Bush gave diplomatic pressure a “good chance” of succeeding in coaxing Pyongyang to end its tension-producing nuclear weapons programs.

Along with the United States, regional neighbors China, Japan and South Korea are opposed to a nuclear-armed North Korea. Bush cited that unanimity of purpose — if not of strategy — as reason for optimism.

“I believe that all four of us working together have a good chance of convincing North Korea to abandon her ambitions to develop nuclear arsenals,” Bush told reporters in Fort Hood, Texas.

Over the weekend, North Korea issued conflicting statements about whether it was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.

Intelligence experts say reprocessing spent fuel rods will enable North Korea to yield enough plutonium to build several nuclear bombs within months. Washington believes Pyongyang already has one or two bombs.

North Korea neither has admitted nor denied having nuclear bombs but has asserted its right to develop them.