Six-Party Talks Due in China Dec. 8

A fresh round of six-party talks will be held in China Dec. 8 to discuss North Korea's nuclear disarmament, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

"December 8th, they're scheduled for in China," Rice told reporters aboard an airplane on her way back home from an annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, Yonhap News reported quoting a transcript released by the State Department.

"And we expect that there, there will be a push to finalize the verification protocol," she said.

Rice was talking about North Korea's recent rejection of the U.S. claim that Pyongyang agreed to allow access to its nuclear facilities and sampling for scientific and forensic verification of its declared nuclear programs.

The rejection was seen by skeptics as intent by the North to shun any further negotiations with the outgoing Bush administration.

Hardliners denounce Bush for accepting the incomplete agreement, which allows access to the North's undeclared nuclear sites by international inspectors only by "mutual consent."

The talks have been stalled for months over how to verify North Korea's nuclear facilities as presented by the reclusive country in June as part of a nuclear deal signed by the six parties in the multilateral talks.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill visited the North Korean capital in early October to settle on a verification regime.

The agreement ended a months-long stalemate over how to verify the North's nuclear programs as Washington subsequently lifted the North from its terrorism blacklist and the North resumed disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang.

"It's very important that that verification protocol reflects the discussions that Hill had with his North Korean counterparts when he was in Pyongyang, a set of assurances that were given," Rice said, apparently bearing in mind the North's rejection.