N. Korean willingness to talk pleases US

The Bush administration said yesterday it was encouraged by news that North Korea was ready to hold a new round of six-way talks to resolve a crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

"We are encouraged by the reports we have seen that North Korea has agreed in principle to continue six-party talks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One, the president's official aircraft.

Earlier yesterday, North Korea told China it was willing to hold further nuclear talks if the negotiations would lead to a wide-ranging deal.

China hosted an inconclusive round of talks in late August with North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia trying to defuse the crisis.

"The president has made it very clear that the multi-party process provides the best hope for achieving our shared objectives for getting North Korea to abandon her nuclear ambitions," Mr McClellan added.

The Bush administration has doggedly attempted to use diplomacy to curb North Korea's pursuit of its nuclear ambitions, in contrast to its approach to Iraq, which it invaded after accusing Baghdad of trying to develop a weapons of mass destruction programme. No weapons have yet been found by US occupation forces in Iraq.