Song Min-Soon said all nations agreed on the need to take practical steps to implement a September 2005 denuclearisation agreement.

"There is consensus among all the participants that going beyond the (BDA) issue, they need to agree upon concrete measures to implement the first-stage phase of the September 19 agreement," Song told journalists.

The talks that began in 2003 reached a tentative deal in September 2005, under which the North agreed in principle to dismantle its nuclear programme in return for energy and economic aid and security guarantees.

But the North boycotted the forum soon afterwards in protest at a US Treasury blacklist, which led to a freeze of its accounts at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macau and elsewhere in Asia.

The North tested a nuclear weapon in October but returned to the six-nation talks last month. The round made little apparent progress, with Pyongyang insisting the BDA issue be resolved first,

The US has previously said the matter is a law enforcement issue aimed at curbing the North's counterfeiting of dollars and is unrelated to the six-party talks.

Song said "mutual flexibility" now exists between the two rivals.

"The yardstick for progress should be whether the participants may agree upon a basic plan to implement concrete, first-stage measures for carrying out the September 19 agreement."

But he cautioned that there is a long road ahead.

"It is difficult for the participants to strike an agreement at one stroke that would include all the procedures for the North to dismantle nuclear programmes and for others to provide it with what it wants," he said.

Song also said that host China is expected to announce within a few days the date for the next round.

Song is scheduled to visit Beijing for three days from Thursday to meet his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing and others to discuss the nuclear issue and bilateral relations.

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-Woo said on Tuesday that the six-party talks would resume no later than the week of February 5. They group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

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