"Pyongyang says it is necessary for relations between the United States and North Korea to be transformed from one of enmity to normal, friendly and cooperative relations," a Russian diplomat close to the talks said.

"I don't know if this is possible in the short term," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The comments came after North Korea on Monday pressed the United States to hold direct talks on ending their nuclear standoff and vowed to "go its own way" if Washington refused to do so.

North Korea quit the six-party talks that seek to defuse the tensions on its nuclear programme in April after the United Nations censured it for a long-range missile launch. In May, it then staged a second atomic weapons test.

Besides North Korea and the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan were involved in the talks.

The Russian diplomat said Moscow did not believe that revamped US-North Korea ties was "a necessary condition for the six-party talks"

"I even think we all understand that to achieve such a condition is unrealistic, so it is necessary to restart the six-party talks."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week the US will never have "normal, sanctions-free relations" with a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Russia maintains an embassy in Pyongyang and has some of the closest ties with its leader Kim Jong-Il of the six countries involved in the talks, the Russian diplomat underlined.

"To us, North Korea -- with whom we share a common border, even if it is not very long -- is our neighbour. It is our historical partner," he said, adding Moscow was prepared to help the North develop its "big economic potential."

Earlier Tuesday, North Korea declared it had produced more plutonium for its atomic weapons programme, in a bid to put further pressure on the US to start direct talks.

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