"We are prepared to, and look forward to, returning to six-party talks without precondition," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, stressing that "nothing has been set yet."

"We continue to work closely with our partners -- South Korea, China, Japan and Russia -- to put together a draft statement for the meeting, which would outline our readiness to prepare a statement on multilateral security assurances," said McClellan.

"And we continue to emphasize the importance of North Korea committing to the complete and verifiable elimination of their nuclear program," the spokesman said.

A top South Korean diplomat said Sunday that the United States, Japan and South Korea have hammered out a joint draft statement envisioning a security guarantee for Pyongyang in return for its declaration that it would scrap its nuclear program.

The draft was endorsed at talks between Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck and his US and Japanese counterparts who met in Washington last week to fine-tune preparations for a new round of six-nation talks on ending the year-long impasse, said Lee.

A senior US official said last week that Pyongyang was attempting to induce US concessions in writing on certain steps to defuse the crisis before the talks begin.

One issue vital is "sequencing" -- the order of steps Pyongyang and Washington would both agree to take, the official said.

According to news reports in Seoul and Tokyo, North Korea was reluctant to accept Washington's demand that the Stalinist country pledge to return to an international nuclear safeguard accord.

WAR.WIRE