The six-nation talks - involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan - have been stalled since last November. North Korea has boycotted them, largely to protest US financial sanctions that target alleged counterfeiting of US currency and money laundering.

Washington has insisted those sanctions, which include a freeze on North Korean bank accounts in Macau, are unrelated to the nuclear weapons dispute.

For its part, the North stepped back from its demand that the financial restrictions be lifted before it would return to nuclear talks. And Washington agreed for the first time to discuss the financial sanctions at the nuclear talks, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the US negotiator, told reporters in Beijing.

Hill said the talks could resume as early as November or December. "We took a step today toward getting this process back on track," he said. But, he added, "We are a long way from our goal still. ... I have not broken out the cigars and champagne quite yet."

White House press secretary Tony Snow sought to play down US concessions. He insisted that the United States made no promises to link the financial-sanctions dispute to the nuclear one, only agreeing that "issues like that may be discussable at some future time."

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said he was sure there would be "an opportunity for us to have direct talks" with North Korean negotiators in the context of the six-party framework. He said the negotiations would probably take place in Beijing.

The six-party talks had originally been intended to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But its nuclear test changed the debate and the stakes.

"No one wants North Korea to continue its nuclear weapons program, particularly after the North Koreans tested a nuclear device," Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice said in an interview on CNBC. She said the US wanted "concrete steps" toward denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. "It really doesn't make sense again for us just to go back and talk," Rice said.

The Security Council voted unanimously on October 14 to impose sanctions on Pyongyang, including a ban on major weapons shipments and restrictions on sales of luxury goods.

"The big question now is, will we meet and will we have anything new to talk about? The North still doesn't trust us, and we don't trust North Korea," said John Wolfstahl, a former nonproliferation official with the US Energy Department.

Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the development was heartening, but that the next round of talks would be much tougher because North Korea has now tested a nuclear weapon. "I'm afraid North Korea comes back stronger," Levin said in an interview.

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