Confirming the working group meeting to open on May 12 in the Chinese capital, the North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said Pyongyang wanted to discuss compensation for freezing its nuclear programs.

"The DPRK (North Korean) side will attend this meeting to discuss the proposal 'reward for freeze' under any circumstances," he told the official Korean Central News Agency.

But he warned the unyielding US policy demanding the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling (CVID) of North Korean nuclear programs attitude demanding might overshadow the prospect of the talks.

"The US seems to stick to its stand to demand Pyongyang's CVID of its nuclear program. But that will only throw a higher hurdle in the way of the talks," he warned.

Earlier in the day, China and South Korea also confirmed the meeting of lower-level working officials on May 12.

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 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.

WAR.WIRE