KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Malaysia and South Korea stressed Tuesday the need for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

　　Both countries want to see the DPRK nuclear issue to be resolved through peaceful means and not through any threat of "regime change," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Young-kwan.

　　On Monday, the DPRK called upon the United States to drop hostile policy toward it and hold direct negotiations based on equality and trust.

　　Pyongyang has put forward a "new and broad-minded" proposal to settle the DPRK-US nuclear row at the Beijing talks between the United States, the DPRK and China in April, state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.

　　In May, the DPRK raised an "innovative" proposal to hold bilateral nuclear talks before multilateral negotiations, the commentary said.

　　The nuclear row flared up in October when US officials said Pyongyang admitted having a secret nuclear program in violation of a bilateral agreement and suspended the shipment of fuel to the DPRK.

　　Besides the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the two ministers also exchanged views on the Palestine-Israeli conflict and post-war Iraq. Enditem