The president said that facing an "unexpected situation," South Korea would stick to its principle of resolving the 28-month-old standoff peacefully through dialogue.

Roh spoke after US President George W. Bush said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at a summit in Bratislava Thursday that North Korea had to abandon its nuclear weapons drive.

Addressing parliament on the second anniversary of his inauguration, Roh said he understood that the nuclear standoff was a cause for "great concern."

"Some unexpected situation took place, but the fundamental issue has not changed greatly," he said.

"We will not be swayed by one incident after another but calmly stick to our coherent principle (of resolving the standoff), although we will maintain flexibility," he said.

Top nuclear negotiators from South Korea, the United States and Japan are expected here Saturday to attempt to revive talks which have been in limbo since an inconclusive third round in Beijing in June last year.

Pyongyang refused to turn up to a fourth round last September, citing US "hostility."

Then on February 10, North Korea declared an indefinite boycott and said it had developed nuclear weapons.

Prospects for a fourth round brightened after Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-Il indicated on Tuesday this week that he could return to talks if the conditions were right.

The talks include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Kim's statement followed a four-day visit by senior Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiaru to Pyongyang which concluded Tuesday.

Quoting diplomatic sources, the Korea Times said Friday Pyongyang's precondition concerned a demand for a pledge from Washington that it had "no hostile intent" towards North Korea.

Japan's ambassador to Beijing, among those briefed by China on Wang's trip, said that prospects were not bright for new talks.

"I did not have the impression that they have entered the stage of having prospects" for a resumption date, ambassador Koreshige Anami told Nippon Television on Thursday.

The nuclear standoff erupted in October 2002 when the United States accused North Korea of operating a programme based on highly enriched uranium.

Pyongyang denied that charge but restarted a plutonium programme frozen under a 1994 arms control agreement.

But tight international surveillance had prevented the Stalinist state from obtaining other key equipment.

South Korean officials have dismissed North Korea's claim to have nuclear weapons as a tactic to win concessions from the United States ahead of new talks.

Washington believes the Stalinist State may already possess one or two crude nuclear devices.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service told parliament in a report Thursday it doubted North Korea had a viable uranium progamme. Pyongyang probably purchased materials in 2000 to produce the prototypes for centrifuges needed for to produce enriched uranium.

The South Korean president said that relations with Washington, troubled in the past over differences in handling North Korea, had recovered.

"There were once some voices expressing concern about ties with the United States but now the South Korea-US relationship is more stable than before. I will manage it well," he said.