US prepares for N Korea talks

The North is thought to have stored 8,000 spent fuel rods

Senior officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Washington this week to prepare for six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis, the US State Department has said.

State Department Spokesman Philip Reeker said the talks would take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

The six-way talks, which are expected to open on August 26 or 27 in the Chinese capital Beijing, will also include China and Russia, as well as North Korea.

North Korea agreed to the talks earlier this month after previously insisting on bilateral talks with the US to resolve the crisis.

The nuclear crisis began last October when the US reported that North Korea had admitted to a covert nuclear weapons programme.

The US and its allies suspended fuel aid to North Korea, and North Korea responded by reactivating a mothballed nuclear plant and kicking out United Nation weapons inspectors.

Pyongyang has since pulled out of the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty and claimed to have the capability to make weapons-grade plutonium.

Some analysts suspect North Korea wants to trade its nuclear capabilities for a non-aggression pact with the US, as well as economic and diplomatic rewards.

But the US has said it will not accept North Korean "nuclear blackmail", and any agreement would be conditional on the North putting a full and verifiable end to its nuclear programmes