Bush said he discussed the showdown on the Korean peninsula in talks with visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the White House.

"I told him that we're committed to solving the North Korean nuclear issue in a diplomatic way and that we're pleased that the six-party talks have become renewed," Bush told reporters.

"We're sincere about working with China and South Korea and Japan and Russia to bring some common sense to the leader of North Korea," said Bush.

The fourth round of so-far inconclusive talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions will take place in Beijing on July 26, China said Tuesday.

Pyongyang broke off the discussions in June 2004, rejecting a US offer then on the table which required an up-front pledge to dismantle all nuclear programs before getting energy and other assistance.

Bush also said he believed that Australia, a key Asian regional power and US ally, could help influence China to convince Kim to stand down his nuclear program.

"I know that Australia can lend a wise message to the Chinese about the need for China to take an active role in the neighborhood to prevent, for example, Kim Jong-Il from developing a nuclear weapon," Bush said at a joint White House press appearance with Howard.

North Korea made a surprise announcement earlier this month that it would return to the table for the talks, days before South Korea offered to build new power lines across the border and provide electricity to the North.

South Korea also pledged 500,000 tonnes of rice to the starving and isolated nation.

Last month, Washington said it was donating 50,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea, but denied it was bait to lure Kim's regime back to the talks.

The six-party talks began in August 2003, nearly a year after Pyongyang allegedly told US officials it was running a uranium enrichment program. It has since claimed it has nuclear bombs.

The United States has made clear it wants to see concrete action next week, with a senior administration official saying it was no longer time to "talk for talk's sake."

However, the official stopped short of saying the upcoming round would be the last attempt before Washington seeks United Nations sanctions against the Stalinist regime, a move opposed by China and South Korea.

Kim told Chinese presidential envoy Tang Jiaxuan last week he was looking forward to "positive progress."

The United States has refused to hold direct one-on-one talks with Pyongyang, arguing it will not reward North Korea for breaking a 1994 anti-nuclear pact.

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