North Korea is willing to return to six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations if separate talks planned with the United States make progress, the communist state's official media said Tuesday.

It said leader Kim Jong-Il gave the commitment at a meeting late Monday in Pyongyang with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

"The hostile relations between the DPRK (North Korea) and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," the Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying.

"We expressed our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks. The six-party talks are also included in the multilateral talks."

Kim said the North's efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula remain unchanged.

China's official Xinhua news agency carried a similar report, saying the two leaders reached "vital consensus" on the issue.

The North quit the six-nation forum in April after the United Nations condemned its long-range rocket launch. It vowed to restart its programme to make atomic bombs.

In May the North staged its second nuclear test, incurring tougher UN sanctions supported even by its close ally China. The United States has been leading a drive to enforce the measures.

The North has been pressing for bilateral talks with the United States to end the nuclear standoff.

US willing to engage

The US State Department reiterated it is ready to talk to the North bilaterally to bring it back to the six-nation talks, but the goal must be a complete end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.

"We and our six-party partners want North Korea to engage in a dialogue that leads to complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula through irreversible steps," said spokesman Ian Kelly in response to the announcement in Pyongyang.

"The US remains willing to engage North Korea bilaterally within the framework of the six-party process to convince North Korea to take the path of complete denuclearisation."

Kelly said the United States was in "close coordination" with other nations in the six-party talks. "There is consensus among the five parties that the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula remains the core objective and essential goal of our engagement with North Korea."

Wen's high-profile three-day visit ending later Tuesday was officially described as a goodwill trip to attend celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Korea diplomatic relations.

But nuclear issues were high on the agenda.

The six-party forum formed in 2003 also groups South Korea, the United States, Russia and Japan. It reached a deal in 2007 under which the North shut down its plutonium-producing plant at Yongbyon.

Seeking China's support

In Wen's talks Sunday with Premier Kim Yong-Il and other senior officials, the North had expressed willingness to achieve denuclearisation through "bilateral and multilateral dialogues."

The North, however, blamed the United States for the nuclear standoff and linked denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula to the pace of global atomic disarmament efforts.

Pyongyang has lately been stressing its claim that it needs atomic weapons as a shield against US hostility. It also seeks formal recognition as a nuclear-armed state, something Washington and Seoul have adamantly rejected.

China is isolated North Korea's biggest trade partner and energy supplier.

In a sign of the importance which Pyongyang places on the relationship, Kim Jong-Il personally hosted an elaborate red-carpet airport welcome for Wen on Sunday and greeted him with a hug.

- AFP