Under a six-nation pact reached in February 2007 the North was promised one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil or equivalent-value aid to repair power stations, in return for disabling its plutonium-producing nuclear plants.

But the South has postponed the shipment of 3,000 tonnes of steel pipe, citing delays in implementing the disarmament pact.

"(Steel) shipments will be made in the near future," foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-Young told reporters, adding that host China would soon formally announce the date for six-party talks.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that the meeting would be held on December 8 in Beijing.

The next round will focus on arrangements for inspections to verify a declaration of nuclear activities which the North made in June as part of the disarmament pact.

Disputes have emerged over what was agreed.

North Korea says it never agreed to let inspectors take samples from its atomic plants. It insists that verification will involve only field visits, confirmation of documents and interviews with technicians.

The US State Department insists that the North did consent to sampling.

US officials say this procedure is crucial to checking how much bomb-making plutonium the North produced in the past -- and how many bombs it could theoretically make from its stockpile.

South Korea has backed the US in calling for sampling.

The verification dispute is just the latest hurdle in tortuous negotiations, which began in 2003 and have often come close to breakdown. The forum groups the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

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