John Bolton, a top State Department official, said though Washington hoped to make progress on ending the 13 month-old crisis, it was determined that North Korea would win no reward for "bad behavior."

"Attempts to delay or postpone the six-party talks simply because one or more of the parties wishes to raise issues of vital concern should be rejected," Bolton, considered a hawk on North Korea, said.

"Japan for example feels strongly that it should have the right at least to raise the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens over the years," said Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security.

"For Japan, this is a fundamental issue, and Japan's desire to raise it should be respected. Japan's participation in the six-party talks is essential."

Bolton's remarks followed a warning by North Korea that Japan was not qualified to take part in the six-nation talks because it wanted to raise the abductions, an issue of prime political importance in Tokyo.

Pyongyang's official media said Japan had "abducted and forcibly drafted" millions of Koreans during its 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

"Pretending not to know about this hard fact it is vociferating about the abduction of a few Japanese in a bid to poke its nose into the talks and create a complication there," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

It added: "This behaviour has deprived Japan of any qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner."

Japan accuses North Korea of abducting Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies.

Defying strong objections from North Korea, Japan brought up the kidnapping case when the two sides met in the first round of six-way talks in Beijing on Pyongyang's nuclear programme in August.

Tokyo has insisted that the abduction issue should be "comprehensively" settled along with the nuclear issue and the problem of North Korea's missile development and exports.

Bolton has a fiery relationship with North Korea, and was once branded "human scum" and a "bloodsucker" by its official media after making pointed criticisms of life in the Stalinist state.

China, which has been coordinating the diplomatic dance leading up to the second round of six-nation talks said Tuesday that no dates had yet been set.

Several parties in the discussions have however indicated that the talks could take place in Beijing around December 17 or 19.

The State Department said Tuesday that its North Korea pointman, James Kelly would meet counterparts from South Korea and Japan later this week to refine strategy for the talks.

South Korean deputy foreign minister Lee Lee Soo Hyuck and Japan's director general of the foreign ministry Mitoji Yabunaka will join Kelly for the December 4 to 6 talks.

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