SEOUL—North Korea has a few demands to restart nuclear talks with the U.S., according to South Korea’s spy agency. Kim Jong Un’s regime wants sanctions restrictions relaxed to allow exporting minerals and importing more refined fuel.

Also on the must-have list: fine suits and premium liquor.

Seoul’s spy agency on Tuesday briefed lawmakers about the demands from Pyongyang, without disclosing how or when intelligence officials learned of them.

Since last week, the two countries have talked multiple times a day after reopening inter-Korean hotlines, following more than a year of silence. It was Kim Jong Un who asked to restore the hotline, Seoul’s spy agency told lawmakers.

The Kim regime, its borders still closed over Covid-19 fears, has so far given a cold shoulder to the Biden administration’s diplomatic outreach. The U.S. and North Korea haven’t held formal denuclearization talks since October 2019.

To return to the negotiating table, North Korea wants a relaxation of the ban on mineral imports, which prohibit once-lucrative shipments of coal and iron, and a removal of caps that limit the country to importing up to 500,000 barrels of refined fuel a year.

Another precondition was Pyongyang’s elite needing the ability to import daily essentials, as South Korean lawmakers described them based on the intelligence briefing. The lawmakers cited Western-style suits and liquor as examples.

North Korean state media hasn’t commented on the Tuesday briefing or a potential return to U.S. talks. At a June plenary session, Mr. Kim, in his first remarks about U.S. relations since President Biden took office, said North Korea should be ready for both dialogue and confrontation.

Earlier

North Korea's state media revved up to portray Kim Jong Un's slimmer figure as a national rallying cry, prompting speculation about his health. WSJ’s Timothy Martin analyzes propaganda footage at a time when North Koreans are said to face food shortages. Photos: Korean Central News Agency/Associated Press The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

In a Sunday statement, Kim Yo Jong, the dictator’s sister, sought to undercut the significance of the restoration of the inter-Korean hotline, calling it nothing more than a reconnection. She criticized U.S.-South Korea military drills that are expected to start later this month, calling them “hostile war exercises” that undermine inter-Korean relations.

The Kim regime has limited access to international trade, owing to economic penalties instituted after Pyongyang’s numerous nuclear and missile tests. Those restrictions include a ban on luxury-good imports.

But for many years, North Korea had found elaborate ways to flout the sanctions, even using multiple cargo jets to sneak in head-of-state cars that cost more than $500,000.

During the pandemic, North Korean commerce, illicit or not, has largely ground to a halt. The Kim regime has kept its borders closed since January 2020 over Covid-19 fears.

The country’s economy dipped 4.5% in 2020, the worst decline in more than two decades, according to an annual estimate produced recently by South Korea’s central bank, which relies on data gathered by other government departments including Seoul’s spy agency. North Korea doesn’t publish its own figures.

Mr. Kim has recently warned of food shortages and described the current times as the country’s worst-ever domestic crisis.

Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com