South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said Sunday he expected the United States and North Korea to resume critical talks later this month on US sanctions on Pyongyang. "A date has not been set yet, but I understand North Korea and the United States have tentatively agreed to meet in the week beginning January 22," Song told journalists on his arrival home from a US trip.

"I expect it to be around in that week as scheduled."

The meeting is crucial to pushing forward separate six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, as Pyongyang will not engage in substantive discussions without the lifting of US financial sanctions on the communist country.

Financial teams from the two nations met for two days in Beijing on the sidelines of the six-party forum last month, but failed to reach any agreement.

At stake are about 24 million dollars in frozen Banco Delta Asia (BDA) accounts belonging to the North Korean leadership.

The assets were frozen after the US Treasury claimed the Macau-based bank had passed counterfeit currency and engaged in money laundering for its North Korean clients.

Song, who held talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Friday, urged North Korea to return to six-way talks as quickly as possible.

"The sooner, the better," Song said.

Song said the United States and South Korea agreed that "extensive" incentives would be offered to North Korea if the communist state agreed to initiate measures towards denuclearization.

The latest six-party talks ended in deadlock on December 22, failing to agree even on a date for the next round of negotiations.

The six nations — China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia — have intermittently met since 2003 to try to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programs.

In September 2005, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees from the other five states. But no concrete measures have followed up.

North Korea in November 2005 walked out in protest at the US financial sanctions. It conducted its first-ever atomic test on October 9 2006.