"The six countries have agreed that the working group's meeting will open on May 12 in Beijing," Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck told journalists.

A row over North Korea's nuclear program has been deadlocked since October 2002, when Washington said the Stalinist state had broken a 1994 nuclear freeze by launching a secret weapons drive.

Two rounds of six-party talks bringing together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia have so far failed to narrow differences over the US demand and Pyongyang's denial that it was running an enriched-uranium program.

A new round of talks is expected before the end of June. Working parties are to be set up to resolve contentious issues.

Ning Fukui, Beijing's special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs, said earlier that the participants should take a "flexible" approach toward the 18-month-old nuclear stand-off after arriving in South Korea for a two-day visit.

"At working group talks, participants should have in-depth talks to seek ways of defusing tensions over the North Korean nuclear issue," he said, without confirming the new round of discussions.

"We hope the participants will be more flexible and take a realistic approach so that progress can be made," Ning told reporters. He is expected to head the Chinese team to the working group meeting.

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