A government official in Seoul said Sunday that the key issue among representatives from South Korea, the United States, Japan and the European Union will revolve around the future of the $4.6 billion nuclear reactor construction project in North Korea.

Hardliners in Washington have been calling for a complete halt to the project, citing the collapse of the 1994 Agreed Framework, while officials in Seoul are claiming the suspension of the undertaking will only serve to aggravate current tensions between Pyongyang and the international community.