The talks will take place amid a flurry of diplomatic contacts between parties to the six-nation talks, also including China, Russia and North Korea itself.

"We are planning to hold some informal trilateral consultations here in Washington with Japan and South Korean, August 13-14," said State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker.

The senior officials will discuss a common front for the six-nation talks, but will not meet under the formal umbrella of their so-called "Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group" (TCOG), which holds regular meetings on North Korea policy, he said.

Earlier, in Seoul, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck said the United States was close to finalizing a proposal to be tabled at the six-party talks, and said Seoul would present a slightly different plan.

He said the six-nation meeting could start anytime from August 25 in Beijing.

In Tokyo, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Beijing planned to host the six-way talks on the nuclear crisis for about three days in late August, according to a Japanese official.

China, North Korea's closest ally, has served as the chief mediator in arranging the talks. It arranged the first round of three-way talks in April involving officials from the United States, China and North Korea.

In the diplomatic ballet preceding the talks, Russia will host North and South Korean officials this week, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Pyongyang last week.

WAR.WIRE