Six-nation talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program broke off on August 7 after Washington rejected Pyongyang's demand for the right to peaceful nuclear activities.

The talks, which involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, are due to reopen in Beijing next week.

"There is a room for both sides to reach a compromise on the right to peaceful nuclear activities," South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young said.

Chung, however, characterized the North's demand for the completion of two light water reactors by a US-led consortium to generate power as a "tougher" question.

Under a 1994 deal, which ended a previous weapons showdown, the United States agreed to provide fuel for North Korea until the consortium built the reactors. But their construction has been suspended for years amid the nuclear standoff.

To push for an end to the nuclear standoff, South Korea in July offered to supply the North with a significant amount of electricity that would double its power capacity.

The nuclear standoff began in October 2002 when the United States accused North Korea of a secret uranium-enrichment program in violation of the 1994 accord.

Pyongyang has denied the US charges but declared in February this year that it had already built nuclear bombs.

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