However, it said it was confident the talks would happen this year.

"So far preparations for the next round of six party talks is ongoing, as for a specific date it has not been finalized," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a routine briefing.

"As I said earlier, if all the preparations can be conducted smoothly, then the next round of six party talks can be convened within this year."

China, which hosted an inconclusive first round of talks in August, was in consultations with all members of the discussions including the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia.

The talks are aimed at negotiating an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which Pyongyang maintains is needed to ward off a US-led attack to remove Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il.

Top policymakers from South Korea, Japan and the United States are set to meet in Washington Thursday to fine-tune preparations for the next round of negotiations in Beijing.

WAR.WIRE