The United States said on Thursday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) must dismantle completely its nuclear programs.

Citing two basic principles to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsular, James Kelly, assistant Secretary of State said the US "seeks the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of the DPRK's nuclear programs nothing less."

"We cannot accept another partial solution that does not deal with the entirety of the problem," said Kelly who is in charge of East Asian and Pacific affairs in the State Department.

The senior official also noted that the nuclear issue "can bestbe dealt with through multilateral diplomacy".

He said that the China-led six-party talks, which involves the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia and the US, is "the most appropriate approach" to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsular.

The first round of the six-party talks was held in Beijing on August 27-29, 2003. The second round of the multilateral talks was in February 2004. Delegates from the six countries met for the third round of talks on June 23-26.

Source: Xinhua