US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said here on Friday that the United States expectsthe six-party talks over the Korean nuclear issue will be held as planned.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific affairs James Kelly, who is in Tokyo, has consulted with Japanese and South Korean officials over the matter, Boucher told a news briefing.

The United States, South Korea and Japan believe that the planned talks were important. "We would hope that North Korea would stick to the understanding that was reached at the last round of talks as well," Boucher said.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed at the last round of the talks that there would be talks in September, Boucher noted.

The six-party talks, sponsored and presided over by China, alsoinvolves Russia in addition to the DPRK, South Korea, Japan, and the United States.

By June this year, China has hosted three rounds of the six-party talks to try to resolve the nuclear confrontation between the DPRK and the United States.

The DPRK warned recently that the meeting of the working group for the talks is "impossible" due to the American hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

Source: Xinhua