"We need to discuss the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "That's the context in which anything else is going to take place."

"We're not talking financial compensation to get North Korea back into the agreements that they should have been respecting all along."

North Korea had earlier said talks would open on February 25 in the latest bid to defuse a crisis sparked in October 2002 when Washington accused its Stalinist foe of breaking several anti-nuclear pacts with a plan to enrich uranium.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell confirmed that date and said "we hope that these talks will be successful."

But aides rejected claims by a senior North Korean official that Washington had softened its stance towards Pyongyang, reiterating the long-standing US position which appears non-negotiable.

James Kelly, the State Department's top Asia hand, is expected to lead the delegation to talks in Beijing, a senior US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Kelly headed up the US team to the last set of six-way talks, in August, also involving China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, which ended in stalemate.

The announcement that the six sides would try again later this month followed weeks of intense diplomacy by China, aimed at softening entrenched positions in Washington and Pyongyang.

President George W. Bush has rejected North Korea's demands for a non-agression pact, but hinted at an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok last year that he was ready to explore ways to satisfy Pyongyang's security concerns should it give up its nuclear weapons.

While sticking to the formula that the United States would not reward or pay North Korea, Boucher did not rule out some sort of compensation to Pyongyang from other parties to the talks.

"If North Korea changes ... would there be some benefit or frill effect for North Korea? I suppose so," he said, noting that South Korea had talked to North Korea about possible investment programs.

But, referring to a 1994 anti-nuclear pact Washington considers to have been breached by North Korea, he added "we're not going to pay again for the same horse we bought before."

He also added that the US side had not agreed to any preconditions from North Korea before it agreed attend the talks.

In the public bargaining which led up to the announcement, Pyongyang had insisted on US concessions, demanding an end to sanctions and a resumption of fuel aid in return for a promise to freeze its nuclear programme.

Washington countered it was not interested in a "freeze," only in the elimination of the programs.

The announcement on the February 25 date was first made by the official Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang.

Kim Ryong-Song, a North Korean cabinet minister attending inter-Korean talks in Seoul later claimed : "the United States has apparently come to pay attention to our position based on a pragmatic solution."

Kelly meanwhile held talks in Seoul with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon and Unification Minister Jeong Se-Hyun on Monday.

The two men reaffirmed the US position and insisted further that North Korea's uranium enrichment programme, which the Stalinist state denies possessing, must be part of the negotiations.

China's Foreign Ministry said the new round was an important step in efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis.

Washington believes North Korea already has one or two crude nuclear bombs made from plutonium diverted from its nuclear complex at Yongbyon, 90 kilometres (50 miles) north of Pyongyang, before the 1994 nuclear freeze took effect.

North Korea, which expelled nuclear inspectors and pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the crisis deepened, has denied enriching uranium but said it has reprocessed 8,000 spent fuel rods at Yongbyon, diverting enough fuel for up to six more bombs.

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