The impoverished communist state's nuclear and missile programmes are a grave concern to the world and make the North itself less secure, he told South Korea's Yonhap news agency in a written interview.

But "negotiations in the six-party process to achieve the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula can bring security and prosperity to North Korea and the region," Obama said.

The North quit the six-party forum in April and staged its second nuclear weapons test the following month. It now says it is ready to return to the talks but only after bilateral discussions with Washington to ease hostility.

The US special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is to visit Pyongyang, probably before the end of the year. Obama reiterated that those talks would be aimed only at securing the North's return to the six-party forum, which groups the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

"We are open to a bilateral meeting as part of the six-party process if that will lead to an expeditious resumption of the denuclearisation negotiations," he told Yonhap.

Obama said UN member states are enforcing tougher sanctions imposed following the North's latest nuclear and missile tests because the weapons programmes represent "a threat to peace and security".

Obama made his remarks before leaving on an eight-day Asian tour which will end in South Korea. North Korea will be a key topic in Seoul, especially after a naval clash on Tuesday near the disputed Yellow Sea border.

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