"They (North Korea) have also said that they are not yet ready to return to talks at this time. It's our view that talks should resume as soon as possible," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

"We think it's in the interests of all parties to return to talks as soon as possible," he said.

A senior department official said privately that "we've heard from others that North Korea is interested in coming back (but) the timing is not there yet."

"There is nothing that we've heard that suggests to us there is something imminent," the official added.

Three rounds of multilateral talks to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions have taken place since the standoff erupted in October 2002, with the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States taking part.

North Korea boycotted a fourth round of the talks scheduled for Beijing in September in order to wait out the November US presidential elections, according to many analysts.

Washington hopes to hold a fourth round of talks by the first week of January, US State Department number two Richard Armitage has said.

Washington has called for a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of the North's nuclear weapons program.

"The proposal is there," Ereli said. "We think it's a good one. If there are suggestions or responses, the place to discuss that, from our point of view, is in the six-party context."

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