"There is high possibility as of now that a new round of six-party talks will be held in Beijing December 17-19," Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean official as saying.

"I understand that North Korea is favorable toward reopening the six-party talks (at that date)."

The date could be finalized after talks Monday in Washington between Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov and James Kelly, Washington's chief negotiator on North Korea, Yonhap said.

Kelly is to brief US Secretary of States Colin Powell on his discussions on the issue with China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, which attended an inconclusive first round of six-nation talks in Beijing in August, Yonhap said.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper also reported Sunday that the five countries trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions had agreed to hold the talks on December 17, although it did not mention Pyongyang's stance on attending the meeting.

It added that the six nations would issue a joint statement after the next round of talks in which North Korea would express its intention to give up nuclear weapons.

The joint statement would say the five other nations were prepared to offer a written security guarantee to the Stalinist state to encourage Pyongyang to attend a third round of talks, the newspaper said, citing diplomatic sources.

Washington has already said it is ready to put into writing a verbal promise not to attack North Korea in return for Pyongyang's pledge to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

Sources close to the negotiations said a copy of the proposed security assurance could be delivered to Pyongyang by a Chinese envoy later this month, before a new round of talks takes place.

Amid the standoff, the US-led Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization consortium decided last week to suspend a nuclear energy project in North Korea, beginning December 1.

The consortium accused North Korea of failing to meet conditions necessary for the continuation of the multi-billion-dollar project to build two light-water nuclear reactors for the communist country.

The project was the product of a 1994 anti-nuclear deal between Washington and Pyongyang. The United States considers the deal ruptured after accusing Pyongyang last year of launching a secret uranium-enrichment program in violation of the 1994 agreement.

North Korea demands the United States compensate for the suspended project.

Experts in Seoul, however, say the consortium's move would not have any major impact on the six-way talks.

WAR.WIRE