Kelly was the US official who travelled to North Korea last October to confront the Stalinist state with what the United States said was evidence of a banned nuclear weapons program, so igniting a nine-month nuclear crisis.

"Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly will lead the US delegation," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.

Kelly will head an interagency group at the talks, also involving North Korea, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, Casey said.

The veteran diplomat also headed the US side at inconclusive three-way talks on the crisis in Beijing in April.

He was also at the head of the table Wednesday and Thursday, welcoming counterparts from South Korea and Japan to the State Department to prepare the way for the next round of Beijing talks between August 27 and 29.

Stung by Kelly's accusations that it had embarked on a program to enrich uranium for weapons in violation of a 1994 anti-nuclear deal, Pyongyang last October accused Kelly of taking an "arrogant and high-handed" attitude.

WAR.WIRE