SEOUL, Republic of Korea: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) indicated Monday that there should be a new dialogue with the United States to resolve tension over its atomic weapons program.

The move was an apparent invitation to the US to engage in one-on-one talks.

Hours earlier, however, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had told Pyongyang to stick to the six-nation talks that the DPRK has rejected.

Clinton said the multilateral framework was "the appropriate way to engage" with the DPRK.

Yesterday's statement from Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry marks a rare expression of willingness to talk by a nation that has escalated international tension in recent months, with such provocations as a nuclear test and a series of banned missile tests.

"There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation," said the ministry's statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The statement did not elaborate on the new form of dialogue. But Pyongyang has long been known to be seeking direct negotiations with Washington.

"Of course, it refers to bilateral dialogue," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University.

"For now, I think the DPRK wants negotiation rather than a new provocation."

The Republic of Korea (ROK) said yesterday it is not opposed to dialogue between the DPRK and the US.

ROK foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said Washington has assured Seoul it will maintain close consultations with the ROK on the matter.

Tension has risen since the DPRK conducted a long-range rocket launch in April, quit the six-nation nuclear talks, restarted its nuclear facilities, conducted its second-ever nuclear test, and test-launched a barrage of banned ballistic missiles.

In yesterday's statement, the DPRK insisted it won't return to six-nation nuclear talks involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the US.

The brief sentence mentioning dialogue was tucked at the end of a critique of the multilateral process.

DPRK's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun also said Sunday that the country's envoy told an Asian security conference in Thailand last week that the nuclear standoff was a matter between Pyongyang and Washington.

The United States says it is willing to hold direct talks with the DPRK within the six-nation process if it returns to the negotiating table and takes irreversible steps for denuclearization.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on NBC television's Meet the Press that "the Six-Party Talk framework, which had everybody included, is the appropriate way to engage with DPRK".

DPRK quit the six-nation talks in April in anger over a UN rebuke of its long-range rocket launch. It has since further ratcheted up tensions with its second nuclear test on May 25 and a series of banned ballistic missile launches earlier this month. The UN Security Council adopted a tough sanctions resolution to punish Pyongyang last month.

Yesterday, ROK blacklisted five DPRK officials, four companies and a state agency in line with UN sanctions.

The sanctions include travel bans and a freeze on the financial assets against those blacklisted, but the move is largely symbolic because the firms don't do business with the ROK.

The DPRK has bristled at the talk of sanctions. Its defense chief threatened Sunday that the country will "mercilessly and resolutely counter the enemy's sanctions with retaliation."

AP-Xinhua