Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard has remained firm on her North Korean counterpart's military programme especially its nuclear weaponry.

Ms Gillard said in a speech addressing the Korean War memorial service that she will not compromise on anything or will she engaged in a dialogue if no new developments will be presented by North Korea involving Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

''There's no point just saying 'sit down and talk,' if the talks are not going to achieve anything,'' Gillard said at the memorial service to honour Australians who fought North Korean soldiers in the three-year war. She is on her second day of state visit in Korea.

On the weekend, she said the Korean War was ''to defend the young (southern) republic against North Korean aggression."

She commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong, northeast of Seoul, during which Australian and Canadian forces fought a Chinese division to a standstill. She also attended a memorial service in Seoul and laid a wreath at the national war memorial.

Gillard went to the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas and visited international troops stationed along the border.

Inside the building known as T2, she walked across a room that straddles the border and is also where meetings between the military from the two Koreas and their allies take place. She told journalists, "It's an unusual experience, isn't it?''

Gillard's visit comes as Pyongyang has made overtures that it wants to restart the six-nation talks to denuclearize North Korea. The talks, which involve the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, China and the United States, were abruptly halted in April 2009, shortly before North Korea conducted a test nuclear explosion.

North Korea has maintained its nuclear development is for peaceful and defensive purposes, as well as maintained the number of its nuclear facilities as a secret.