SEOUL - The nuclear envoys of Republic of Korea (ROK) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are expected to meet on the sidelines of an Asian forum in Bali on Friday in the first high level contact since tensions spiked on the Korean peninsula last year, a news report said.  

Wi Sung-lac, nuclear envoy of the ROK, and Ri Yong-ho, the DPRK's vice foreign minister who handles its nuclear diplomacy, will meet for unofficial talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting, Yonhap news agency said.

"The South and the North are holding working-level coordination," Yonhap quoted a government official as saying in Bali. "If the meeting (by the envoys) is set, it will be formally announced."

The foreign ministry in Seoul could not confirm the report.

The DPRK walked away from the six-way nuclear talks more than two years ago but last year called for its resumption. The ROK and the United States want discussions between the rival Koreas as a preconditions to the resumption of the full negotiations.

A US official in Bali who did want to be quoted said it would be the "most consequential" meeting between the two sides in some time.

"It will take some time to understand and fully digest what has gone on between the north and south."

Tensions rose to the highest level in years when an ROK navy ship was sunk last year in a torpedo attack killing 46 sailors. The ROK blamed the DPRK but Pyongyang denied any role.