The assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific was expected to discuss ways to restart stalled the multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions, a US embassy spokeswoman said.

Hill came straight from talks in Seoul and heads to Japan Wednesday before returning to South Korea for more discussions, US officials said.

"We are trying to get the six-party process going," Hill told reporters at Beijing airport.

"We have got five countries that are there and one that continues to stay away, so as soon as we get the North Koreans to the talks, we look forward to vigorous negotiations."

Hill refused to put a time-frame on the resumption of talks, saying it would be easier to assess the current situation after his meetings with the Chinese side.

Chinese officials said Hill would meet with three vice foreign ministers, including Dai Bingguo, Wu Dawei and former Chinese ambassador to the United States Yang Jiechi.

"China welcomes the visit by Mr. Hill and we are willing to exchange ideas on Sino-US relations, on the North Korean peninsula and other subjects of common interests," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"Our wish is that all relevant parties can resume the talks soon and do more to contribute to peace and stability on the North Korean peninsula," he said in response to a question on North Korea's reported nuclear weapon's test.

Three rounds of the talks that include North Korea, the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea have been held but the process stalled last June.

Pyongyang has cited alleged US intentions to topple its government as its primary reason for pulling out of the talks and on February 10 announced that it possesses nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, North Korea said it had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and was preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to six more nuclear bombs.

En route to Brazil Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was committed to the six-party talks process, but repeated that the United States reserved the right to take its case to the UN Security Council.

"At this point we are committed to a course that we have described, and that is through the six-party talks to convince the North Koreans that there is really only one route to the kind of international respect that they seem to want, and that is the course that we are on," Rice said.

The New York Times reported that Washington might seek a UN resolution empowering all nations to intercept shipments in or out of North Korea that may contain nuclear materials.

"Obviously, we reserve the right to go to the United Nations Security Council at any time concerning the North Koreans," Rice said when asked about the report.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States believes North Korea is now planning to test a nuclear weapon and has asked China to intervene.

In Seoul Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said a nuclear test would endanger North Korea's future.