Chinese and US negotiators were set to meet in Tokyo on Tuesday to seek a way to bring North Korea back to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programme, but Washington's envoy said the ball was in Pyongyang's court.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said it was time for North Korea to make up its mind to return to the negotiations, which have been stalled since November.

But Hill added that he saw little need to meet his North Korean counterpart, who is also attending a conference in Tokyo.

"They've got to get back to the talks. It's really time," Hill told reporters, adding that he had no plans to meet Kim Kye-gwan, Pyongyang's top negotiator to the six-party talks, aimed at preventing a nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.
"It's not a matter of meeting, it's a matter of action."

Kim said on Monday that Washington must lift what he called financial sanctions against North Korea before it would return to the table. Hill has said Pyongyang must not set pre-conditions.

All of the chief delegates to the six-party talks are in Tokyo, most of them to attend a private forum on security issues.

Hill was due to meet the top Chinese envoy and host of the six-party negotiations, Wu Dawei, on Tuesday.

Analysts have said that China, the host of the six-way talks and a close ally of North Korea, is keen to get agreement to resume the negotiations before President Hu Jintao meets US President George W. Bush in Washington next week.

Speculation persists that the US and North Korean negotiators might meet on the sidelines of the Tokyo forum, but Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said that would be tough unless North Korea changed its stance.

"If their thinking about money laundering ... is the same, I don't think there will be a US-North Korea meeting," Aso said.

Washington has cracked down on financial institutions that it suspects of assisting Pyongyang in illicit financial activities, including money laundering and counterfeiting US currency.

North Korea denies any involvement in such activities, while Washington says the measures are purely a law enforcement matter and separate from the six-party process.
The six countries in the talks are the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

They agreed in September that North Korea would end all nuclear programmes in return for aid and a promise of security and better diplomatic ties.

But the last session in November, aimed at compiling a plan to implement that deal, yielded no progress.