Kim Yong-Nam, the Stalinist nation's top legislator, will go to China some time in October, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told a group of Japanese journalists, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

Tang, a former foreign minister, made the remark without being prompted, the source said.

China is facing a minor diplomatic embarrassment as it now looks all but impossible that six-country nuclear talks will take place in Beijing by the end of the month as originally planned.

The six nations -- China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia -- last met in Beijing in June, agreeing on little else than convening again before late September.

North Korea is being widely blamed for the missed deadline, with some speculating it may want to await the outcome of the November US presidential elections before returning to the negotiating table.