"Our policy on North Korea remains the same, and we are pursuing a peaceful, diplomatic solution through a multilateral forum," said Scott McClellan, chief spokesman for US President George W. Bush.

"Some progress was made" during six-way talks last week in Beijing, where Washington's partners "made it very clear" that they support a de-nuclearized Korean peninsula, he told reporters.

"North Korea knows what they need to do. They need to end their pursuit of nuclear weapons, end its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible way," said McClellan.

Asked whether the Bush administration was reviewing its policy or was considering changing course, the spokesman replied: "No, we're continuing to work this through the multilateral approach."

Those comments came after China said the next round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear issue should be centered on clarifying "the negative policy" of the United States toward the Stalinist state.

WAR.WIRE