"After careful consideration and extensive consultation among our allies and partners, we have told North Korea that we are prepared for Ambassador Bosworth and a small interagency team to visit Pyongyang at an appropriate time not yet determined," State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said.

North Korea has invited special envoy Stephen Bosworth to visit for talks to end what it calls Washington's "hostile" policy toward the communist state.

Pyongyang has unleashed a string of actions this year that infuriated Obama's administration, including testing a nuclear bomb and test-firing a missile over Japan, a close Washington ally.

But the administration of President Barack Obama has said it is willing to sit down with North Korea if such a meeting is considered part of the six-nation talks that led to the 2005 and 2007 agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

"Ambassador Bosworth's discussions in Pyongyang will take place in the context of the six-party talks," Crowley confirmed Tuesday.

"This meeting is about returning North Korea to the six-party process and getting a commitment from them to take the kinds of affirmative steps that were called for in the 2005 joint statement.

"This is not the beginning of a bilateral dialogue that is separate from, you know, the six-party process."

He added that the aim was to ensure Pyongyang reaffirms "the September 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner."

Under the 2005 deal, the communist regime pledged to give up its nuclear arms and programs and adhere again to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in return for aid and an end to its international isolation.

Asked when the visit to Pyongyang might take place, Crowley said: "I would say, as an expectation, sometime between now and the end of the year."

Confirmation of the visit came amid heightened regional tensions after a North Korean patrol boat was set ablaze in an exchange of fire with South Korea's navy on Tuesday.

The two sides blamed each other for the clash, the first for seven years, near the disputed Yellow Sea border as the White House warned against any actions that could be seen as an "escalation" of the cross-border tensions.

Some analysts said Pyongyang may be sending Obama a message as he prepared to leave Thursday for a tour of Asia, which includes a visit to South Korea on November 18.

While the Obama administration has sought dialogue with US adversaries from Iran to Cuba, its response to North Korea has been largely comprised of punishment, including a tightening of sanctions led by the United Nations.

The administration has flatly ruled out recognition of North Korea as a nuclear weapons power -- which many experts believe is leader Kim Jong-Il's ultimate goal amid questions about his health.

The United States has periodically sent envoys in the past to Pyongyang, despite the lack of diplomatic relations, but Bosworth's trip will be the first such mission since Obama took office in January.

Former US president Bill Clinton visited the North Korean capital in August to help free two journalists, although officials said it was considered a private trip.

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