South Korea offers fresh talks to North South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak reached out to North Korea with a fresh offer of dialogue, as the US prepares to reopen nuclear talks with the communist state for the first time since the death of its leader Kim Jong-il. Pyongyang can use its recent change in leadership to initiate reforms, Mr Lee said on the eve of talks between the US and North Korea in Beijing. "North Korea faces a good opportunity for change," he said. There is nothing to gain if tensions rise. I'm open to talks if the North comes forward with sincerity. Seoul also stepped up diplomatic efforts to save about 30 North Korean defectors, who were recently arrested in China and face repatriation. Mr Lee urged Beijing to follow "international norms" in its treatment of North Korean defectors. The South Korean public are pressuring the government to be more active in its efforts to protect the North Koreans, as activists say the defectors could face harsh punishments and even public executions if they were sent back to the North. North Korean defectors are often repatriated by China as Beijing sees them as "economic migrants" instead of political refugees. Seoul has been cautious about confronting China on this sensitive issue, but South Korea's foreign ministry said this week it would consider taking the issue to the UN Human Rights Council. Kim Jong-il's youngest son, Jong-eun, took over power in mid-December, but the new regime has warned the outside world not to expect any major policy changes. Pyongyang has shunned overtures, calling a nuclear summit due to be held next month in Seoul a "childish farce" and threatening "merciliess retaliation" for the recent military drills conducted by South Korea and the US. Thursday's meeting between North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Kye-Gwan and US special envoy Glyn Davies is expected to provide some clues on the policy directions of Pyongyang's new regime. Washington will demand that Pyongyang suspend its uranium enrichment programme in return for more food aid from the US, diplomats said. Relations between the two Koreas have worsened since Mr Lee, who took office in 2008, abandoned his predecessor's policy of engagement with North Korea, ending food aid to the impoverished neighbour. Tensions rose after North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship in March 2010 and shelled a border island in November 2010, incidents that killed 50 South Koreans in total.