Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, urged Washington to accept Pyongyang's proposal for "simultaneous actions" to defuse the crisis, including a nuclear freeze in return for concessions from the United States.

"Whether the US accepts the DPRK (North Korea) proposal or not is a touchstone showing whether it hopes for the peaceful solution to the nuclear issue or not," said the newspaper, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has demanded a legally binding security guarantee from the United States in return for abandoning its nuclear ambitions. Washington wants the nuclear program scrapped first.

Deputy US Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Friday in Beijing that a decision on when the next round of six-nation talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis can be held depended on Pyongyang.

"The decision on the dates is in Pyongyang, not in Beijing, so you'll have to ask the North Koreans," Armitage told reporters before leaving his hotel for meetings with Chinese officials.

Shortly after arriving in Beijing late Thursday, Armitage expressed the hope there would be a second round of talks next month to resolve the 15-month crisis over the North's nuclear program.

Pyongyang has said that it would return to the talks only when Washington agreed to drop sanctions and resume fuel aid in return for a nuclear freeze, an offer rejected by US President George W. Bush.

"If the US truly stands for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, it should not insist on its unreasonable assertion but accept the DPRK-proposed package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions," Rodong Sinmun said.

"The United States should drop its double-dealing tactics and take an honest approach," it added.

WAR.WIRE