HELSINKI (AP) — Finland's foreign minister says representatives from North and South Korea are holding diplomatic talks in the Nordic country and describes Finland's role as a "facilitator."

Foreign Minister Timo Soini told the Finnish news agency STT on Monday that Finland "is making this meeting possible" by helping arrange it but wouldn't mediate in the actual negotiations. He gave no other details.

Senior North Korean diplomat Choe Kang Il, who handles North American affairs in Pyongyang, arrived in Helsinki on Sunday for talks with South Korean security experts and allegedly also with former U.S. diplomats, including the former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Kathleen Stephens.

The meeting comes just two days after North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho held days of diplomatic talks in neighboring Sweden.