Foreign Minister Park Jin, right, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their talks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in this Aug. 5 photo. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Friday and expressed regret over North Korea's rejection of Seoul's offer to provide economic aid in exchange for denuclearization steps, the foreign ministry here said.

Foreign Minister Park Jin and his U.S. counterpart, Antony Blinken, discussed the matter hours after reports of Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, dismissing President Yoon Suk-yeol's "audacious" initiative as the "height of absurdity."