US Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed North Korea with his Chinese counterpart on Friday but there is still no firm date for a second round of six-party nuclear talks.
In a telephone call to Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, "we had a discussion about the progress we were making toward the next six-party meeting, which we hope will be in the not-too-distant future," Powell told reporters after escorting Jordan's King Abdullah from the US Department of State.
But asked about a firm date for the talks, he replied: "Not yet, no."
US President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are expected to discuss the issue when they meet at the White House next Tuesday.
The US, South Korea and Japan held working level discussions in Washington this week on North Korea but those did not produce a breakthrough either.
State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said that despite the lack of a date, the US-hosted meetings were useful. The US, South Korea and Japan are "ready to convene a second round before the end of the year and believe that is possible," he said.
"I think it was understood that the timing of the talks is a decision on which all parties must agree and that North Korea has not yet agreed to specific dates for the talks," he said.
But other US and Asian officials, while not ruling out a second round this month, have said it looks likely the next round will be delayed until January or February.
US officials said the US and other countries involved in the planning -- China, Russia, South Korea and Japan -- are trying to agree in advance on a statement that would be issued at the conclusion of a second round of talks.
This means the results would be "pre-cooked" even before the parties convene.
A first round of six-way talks was held in Beijing in August but ended inconclusively.
The current nuclear crisis began in October last year when US officials said Pyongyang had privately admitted pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program that violated its international agreements.
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