Report: 6-party talk may resume in February
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-21 15:09

Six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions could resume as early as February, Japan's Kyodo News agency reported Saturday, citing a U.S. State Department official in Washington.

However, both the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the Chinese Foreign Ministry said they could not confirm the report.

China proposed the February date after Washington's top envoy to the talks met with his North Korean counterpart in Beijing last week, Kyodo quoted the U.S. official as saying on condition of anonymity.

"I think that there was a suggestion. The Chinese had talked about early February," the official said, according to Kyodo's Washington bureau.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said she had no information about the report.

An official reached by phone at the Chinese Foreign Ministry said he had to check with other departments before commenting on the report.

Pressure has been mounting on North Korea to return to the talks, which have been stalled since November.

Pyongyang has refused to return to the negotiations unless Washington ends financial sanctions imposed over the North's alleged illegal activities.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan in Beijing on Wednesday, in an apparent effort to relaunch the talks.

The meeting also came one day after the North's leader, Kim Jong Il, wrapped up a  weeklong trip to China.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters he was not aware of an agreement between parties to resume in February, but said the U.S. was ready to restart as soon as possible.

"Well, if the date is in early February, we'll be ready and we'll be there," he said at a regular media briefing.

"We would encourage, in particular, North Korea to resume the discussions without precondition," he said.

The participants in the talks are the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.