He said he made the request to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Brussels last week during a conference of donor countries for Iraq.

"I made an open request that North Korea should not be provoked ... unnecessarily at a time when a positive atmosphere is proceeding," Ban told YTN cable news television.

"I explained to Secretary Rice that the United States and other dialogue partners need to be circumspect in behavior and she expressed understanding."

Ban said Seoul was working hard to restart the talks next month after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il hinted at a return to dialogue during a recent meeting with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young.

"We are making lots of diplomatic efforts after taking significantly Chairman Kim's comment about the possible resumption of talks in July given his (supreme) status in the North's system."

Ban said South Korea would take the initiative in resolving the standoff over the North's nuclear weapons programme if it returns to the stalled talks.

"If six-party talks resume, our government will play an active and leading role so that there will be substantial progress in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue," he said.

At talks with Chung on June 17, Kim said North Korea would return as early as July if the United States "respects" his nation as a dialogue partner.

The US has in the past referred to the reclusive Stalinist state as an outpost of tyranny.

But North Korean officials, at cabinet-level talks held in Seoul last week, refused to set a firm date.

On Wednesday Chung embarked on a five-day trip to the United States to meet Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials and brief them on his talks with Kim.

North Korea has boycotted the talks, which also include the United States, South Korea, Russia, Japan and China, for more than a year, citing "hostile" US policy, following three inconclusive rounds.

The nuclear standoff flared in October 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of operating a nuclear weapons programme based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement.

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