Spokesman Scott McClellan flatly denied reports suggesting that Washington might be ready to offer Pyongyang fresh incentives to resolve the nearly three-year-old dispute, saying: "I think any such impression is wrong."

"Five countries put a proposal on the table one year ago, we want to see North Korea come back to the talks with a serious response to that proposal," the spokesman said.

Senior US officials have said that Pyongyang had agreed to give a detailed response to the proposal at talks later this month. The discussions comprise the United States, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and China.

"It's important that we do make progress" towards dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons capabilities, said McClellan. "And that means moving forward in a serious way on the proposal."

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan agreed in a surprise move Saturday that Pyongyang would return to the negotiations from July 25, after the talks were stalled for more than a year.

At a dinner meeting, Kim also told US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Christopher Hill that Pyongyang would respond to the US plan at the talks in Beijing, said US officials who were travelling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a four-nation Asian trip.

Hill had asked Kim whether North Korea was prepared to give a detailed response to the US proposal "and he said they would," one of the officials told reporters on the plane taking Rice to Thailand from her first stop, China.

Rice was later to fly to Japan and proceed to South Korea the next day.

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