"If there is no inflammatory rhetoric, I predict they will return following the Chinese New Year in early February," Representative Curt Weldon told a news conference before his departure home.

The Pennsylvania Republican led a six-member bipartisan congressional delegation on a four-day trip to Pyongyang, followed by stops in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo.

In Seoul Weldon, who is vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that he expects the six-way talks to resume "in a matter of weeks".

Weldon said Tuesday the North will decide whether to return after assessing the line-up of the new US administration and President George W. Bush's State of the Union address on Thursday.

In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush labelled Stalinist North Korea part of an "axis of evil" which also included Iraq and Iran.

North Korea attended three rounds of inconclusive discussions on the nuclear stand-off. It shunned a fourth round originally scheduled for last September, complaining of "hostile" US policies.

After meeting Weldon Tuesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said he understood "there could be the possibility of some change" on North Korea's stance toward the six-nation forum.

"But so far there is no telling when the talks will resume. We cannot feel assured for now," the top government spokesman said.

The talks involve the United States, North and South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.