"It is preposterous for the US to try to lay the blame for the delayed talks at the DPRK's (North Korea's) door," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary.

Many analysts believe North Korea is waiting for the election to determine its next move, hoping for a less hardline US stance if John Kerry defeats incumbent George W. Bush for the presidency.

But KCNA refuted the claim saying the Bush administration was employing "a sleight of hand to mislead the public opinion at home and abroad and garner support from more electors."

"Mandarins of the US State Department vied with one another to assert that the next round of the six-party talks failed to open due to the 'delaying tactics' of the DPRK watching for the outcome of the US presidential election," it said.

"This is nothing but a foolish attempt to shift the blame for the stalemate of the talks on to the DPRK."

North Korea has intensified its anti-US rhetoric since Powell embarked on a trip to Japan, South Korea and China.

In Japan and China, Powell rejected Pyongyang's claims of Washington's aggressive stance and also dismissed its demands for concessions before resuming the six-party talks.

In Seoul, Powell was seeking support from South Korea for a joint strategy to get Pyongyang to return to the table unconditionally.

KCNA, however, reiterated a statement issued last week by North Korea's foreign ministry which said Pyongyang is willing to resume stalled six-way talks on its nuclear weapons if Washington is ready to consider its demands.

Seoul revealed in September that its scientists secretly enriched a tiny amount of plutonium in 1982 and uranium in 2000 just for scientific research. It opposes bringing its own nuclear issue to the six-way talks.

North Korea took park in three inconclusive rounds of the talks which also involved the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan.

But the Stalinist country boycotted a fourth round of six-party talks scheduled to open in September.