Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-Sup will meet First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchnin and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov on Wednesday, the ministry said.

"The vice foreign minister will visit Moscow on August 13 for fine-tuning ahead of the six-way talks," said Kim Young-Seok, the ministry's chief of the European affairs bureau.

"Our position is that (at the Moscow talks) we would be willing to discuss not only the timing, venue and the level of the chief delegates to the six-way talks but also contents of the talks should Russia be ready to do so," he said.

Kim Jae-Sup is scheduled to leave here late Saturday for Saint Petersburg, leading South Korean delegates to the "Korea Week" cultural event on Monday to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the former Russian capital.

He will return home on Thursday.

The visit comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to pave the way for the six-way talks.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Pyongyang Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is due in Seoul in the coming week and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda visits Beijing Saturday.

Diplomats from South Korea, the United States and Japan are likely to meet in Washington as early as next week, said Wi Sung-Lac, director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American affairs bureau.

North Korea has said the six-way talks, involving Russia, Japan, the United States, China and the two Koreas would take place in Beijing, but details and timings are still being discussed.

South Korean officials have said discussions at the Beijing meeting could be dominated by how and in what form the United States provides a security commitment to North Korea.

Chinese and North Korean officials expressed hope that the upcoming six-party talks would pave the way for a peaceful solution to the crisis, according to Chinese state media.

China has served as the chief mediator in arranging the talks and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi is now in Pyongyang to set them up.

China, North Korea's closest ally, arranged the first round of three-way talks in April involving officials from the United States, China and North Korea.

Beijing was instrumental in convincing Pyongyang to accept the six-party formula.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday suggested that Washington could provide some kind of security assurance to Pyongyang.

"What we have said is there should be ways to capture assurances to the North Koreans from not only the United States, but we believe from other parties in the region that there is no hostile intent among the parties that might be participating in such a discussion," Powell said.

"When one comes up with such a document, such a written assurance, there are ways that Congress can take note of it without it being a treaty or some kind of pact," he said.

"A resolution taking note of something," Powell said, suggesting a form of action Congress could pursue, short of ratifying a treaty.

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