"We urge North Korea to give us a date and return to the six-party talks as soon as possible, without any precondition," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "North Korea needs to commit to a date."

Pyongyang has boycotted the negotiations -- which group the United States, North and South Korea, Russia, Japan and China -- for more than a year after three inconclusive rounds.

Separately, a senior US official urged Beijing to use its clout as a supplier of food, energy, and economic aid to North Korea to pressure Pyongyang to return to the table.

"What more can the Chinese do? Well, I think the Chinese can exert more influence on the North," Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, told reporters.

The comments came after North Korea refused to set a date for a new round but agreed at high-level talks in Seoul to take steps to end the nuclear standoff once conditions were "mature," South Korean officials said.

In a final joint statement after two days of inter-Korean dialogue the two Koreas pledged to take "specific" steps to resolve the standoff that has dragged on since October 2002.

"South Korea and North Korea, setting the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula as their ultimate goal, have agreed to take specific measures to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue as soon as the atmosphere is mature," the final statement said.

South Korean spokesman Kim Chun-Shick said the reference to a mature atmosphere indicated a time when "six-party talks resume and progress is being made." Specific steps meant scrapping nuclear weapons, he added.

"At that moment, specific steps will be taken through dialogue ... that's to say there will be specific steps such as nuclear dismantlement," he said.

The outcome of the first high-level inter-Korean dialogue in 13 months fell short of hopes for a firm date for a new round of six party talks.

Asked about the joint statement, McClellan said: "We still have no date for North Korea returning to the talks.

"North Korea needs to commit to a date for returning to the six-party talks, without preconditions, and be ready to talk in a serious way about how to move forward," he said.

North Korea declared itself a "fully-fledged" nuclear state three months ago and said that the six-party talks should be replaced by disarmament talks.

And Pyongyang said Thursday that it would scrap its nuclear weapons only if the United States agreed to "discard its nuclear threat to the DPRK (North Korea) and switch over to peaceful coexistence."

"If the Korean Peninsula is to be turned into a nuclear-free zone, a peace zone, the US nuclear threat to the DPRK (Noth Korea) must be eliminated, first of all," North Korea said in its ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.

The North Korean newspaper accused the United States of misleading public opinion by creating the impression that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula meant North Korea immediately scrapping its nuclear program first.

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