The New York Times reported Thursday if North Korea agreed to return to six-party talks, the Bush administration would consider opening a parallel track of negotiations on a peace treaty to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

North Korea has long demanded a treaty to put an end to the war that left the North and South separated by a demilitarized zone. The two Koreas remain technically at war today.

The newspaper, quoting the president's aides, said Bush "is very likely to approve the new approach".

However, the head of South Korea's task force on the nuclear standoff, said there was "absolutely nothing" new in the report.

"The headline was big but the content was not," said the foreign ministry task force chief Lee Young-Joon.

"The main theme of the New York Times piece is that the Bush administration is planning to include peace treaty negotiations in talks with North Korea. But that is already the case. Everybody knows."

At the penultimate round of six-party talks made up of the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapons in return for concessions, including peace talks, said Lee.

"Peace treaty negotiations are just one part of a series of implementation points. In order to start implementing the agreements we must first have a new round of six party talks."

The New York Times piece by David E. Sanger said the Bush administration's "new strategy" to woo the North Koreans to the negotiating table may have been influenced in part by growing concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

The piece also quoted Asian diplomats as saying the nuclear issue would be key to discussions when Washington's North Korean envoy, Christopher Hill, visits the region later this month.

Assistant Secretary of State Hill will travel to Beijing and Seoul on May 24-26 after an extensive tour of Southeast Asia, taking in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

US embassy spokesman in Seoul, Robert Ogburn, said Hill's visit here was a routine stop during which he will contact officials dealing with North Korean issues.

"It is a normal stop-by on his way back from a more extensive meeting in Southeast Asia," he said.

The six-party talks stalled in November when Pyongyang said it would boycott future meetings after Washington imposed financial sanctions on the North for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting.

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