Such skepticism came from Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck who met Chinese officials this week to prepare for a new round of six-way nuclear talks due to open in Beijing next month.

"Political situations are developing to make it difficult to reach an agreement," Lee told a meeting with South Korean businessmen, according to Yonhap news agency.

"I don't think the situation will allow the United States to reach an agreement one month before the presidential elections, and North Korea is also likely to want to see the outcome of the elections."

Top negotiators from the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan are due to meet in Beijing by the end of September for new six-way talks aimed at resolving the nuclear stand-off.

But prospects have been overshadowed by the recent exchanges of insulting remarks against their top leaders between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea this week compared US President George W. Bush with Hitler, calling him an "imbecile" and "fascist tyrant" in response to the US leader's description last week of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as a tyrant.

North Korea has also hinted at not attending new six-way talks while the United States has downplayed the Pyongyang gesture.

The stand-off over North Korea's quest for nuclear weapons flared up in October 2002, when Washington accused Pyongyang of operating a secret program based on enriched uranium in breach of a 1994 accord on freezing its separate plutonium program.

Pyongyang has denied running the uranium-based program but has restarted its plutonium program.

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