But Ban said he had no doubt the increasingly belligerent Stalinist state would honor its commitment to attend a new round of talks before the end of this month.

Ban said the six participating nations were consulting on an exact date for the talks aimed at dissuading North Korea from pursuing its quest for nuclear weapons.

"There has been so far no concrete progress in setting a date for talks," Ban told journalists at a weekly briefing.

"But it was an agreement by six countries, including North Korea, that six-way talks should resume by the end of September. We expect North Korea to understand this and to take part in the talks."

Ban said "China and other related states" were discussing the matter with North Korea while South Korea, the United States and Japan would meet soon for consultations.

North Korea has adopted a more strident tone in recent weeks toward the United States and South Korea and has expressed doubts about the value of attending further talks on the nuclear standoff.

North Korea has launched personal attacks against US President George W. Bush, calling him an "imbecile" and "fascist tyrant" and comparing him with Adolf Hitler.

Last month, the US leader described North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as a tyrant.

At the previous six-party talks in June, the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan agreed to meet again in Beijing by the end of September for new discussions.

The standoff over North Korea's quest for nuclear weapons flared in October 2002, when Washington accused Pyongyang of operating a secret program based on enriched uranium in breach of a 1994 accord freezing its separate plutonium program.

Pyongyang has denied running the uranium-based program but has restarted its plutonium program.

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