The United States on Thursday declined to rule out a resumption of six-party nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea following meetings at the UN General Assembly late next month.

"We do have the UN General Assembly coming up. It will be an opportunity for the United States to engage directly with our partners in the six-party process," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"And then... we'll see whether there might be an opportunity for... further dialogue with North Korea," he said when asked to comment on Chinese efforts to revive the stalled talks.

"But, again, as we've said many, many times, there are still actions that we want to see from North Korea that convince us that such a meeting would be fruitful," Crowley said, referring to calls for Pyongyang to stop provocations.

North Korea walked out on the talks, also involving South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, in April 2009 in protest at UN condemnation of an apparent missile test disguised as a space rocket launch.

It carried out its second nuclear test the following month, sparking tougher UN sanctions.

A key obstacle to restarting disarmament talks is the sinking in March of a South Korean corvette, with the deaths of 46 sailors, an attack both South Korea and the United States blamed on North Korea.

"As we've said many, many times, we believe that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan. It has not, as far as I know, taken responsibility for that provocative act," Crowley said.

"One of the things that we want to see, going forward, is an end to these kinds of provocative actions that increase tensions in the region," he said.

"And that will be one of the areas where we would want to see some movement from North Korea that communicates that... it wishes to come back to the table," he said.

Wu Dawei, China's special envoy on Korean affairs, was due in South Korea from Thursday to Saturday to discuss ways to resume talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Wu visited Pyongyang last week to discuss the resumption of six-party talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons in return for diplomatic and economic gains.

earlier related report
China, SKorea discuss N.Korea nuclear programme
Seoul (AFP) Aug 26, 2010 - China's top nuclear envoy Wu Dawei met his South Korean counterpart Thursday and said that six-party nuclear disarmament talks were still an "effective" tool to achieve peace in Northeast Asia.

Wu said he had "deep and trustful discussions about the issues surrounding the Korean peninsula" with South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-Lac on the first day of a three-day visit to Seoul.

"We think six-party talks are an effective resolution to achieve denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula and achieve peace in Northeast Asia," the Chinese envoy told reporters.

Wu visited Pyongyang last week to discuss the resumption of the talks, which the North quit in April 2009 in protest at the UN's condemnation of an apparent missile test.

He said Thursday that China and South Korea agreed to "work hard to achieve peace and stability" on the peninsula, but added discussions had not yet finished.

"It's too early to assess the result yet since the discussion has not yet ended," Wu said.

The six-way talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programme involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

Newspapers in Seoul say China wants an informal dialogue between North Korea and the United States or preliminary talks to take place before the full six-party session is resumed.

Pyongyang has reportedly expressed its willingness to come back to the negotiating table.

But the South has been reluctant to resume the talks unless the North shows a sincere willingness to disarm and comes clean on the sinking of one of Seoul's warships in March with the loss of 46 lives.

Seoul and the United States accuse Pyongyang of torpedoing the ship, an accusation vehemently denied by the North.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan told Japanese reporters Wednesday that the North should first disable its nuclear facilities and allow international monitors back to its nuclear complex.

Wu's trip comes amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is visiting China, possibly accompanied by his youngest son and heir apparent.

Asked about Kim's reported trip, Wu told reporters at the airport: "What I would like to stress is that China and North Korea are close neighbours and it is a normal thing for leaders of the two countries to exchange visits frequently."