The United States urged South Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday to sit down at the negotiating table for six-party talks on its nuclear arms program at an early date without awaiting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November.

DPRK ''should not put their hopes on the election,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. ''They should sit down and continue to pursue action that will move them away from their ambitions.''

At their last meeting in June, China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and the United States agreed to hold the next round of talks on the DPRK nuclear standoff by the end of September. A date for the fresh round has yet to be set.

This has raised speculation that DPRK is waiting for the outcome of the Nov. 2 presidential election in the United States to bargain with the winner over its nuclear weapons program.

McClellan said the United States is still waiting for a DPRK response to its proposal put forward at the June meeting.

The U.S. proposal calls for setting a three-month ''preparatory period'' for dismantling DPRK's nuclear program and offering incentives, including energy aid by the four other countries and a provisional multilateral security guarantee.

At the June meeting, DPRK said it is ready to freeze its nuclear facilities and reprocessed plutonium if the United States accepts its proposal in exchange for compensation measures, including energy assistance and the removal of North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Commenting on the DPRK proposal, McClellan reiterated that Pyongyang ''first must take the steps to reverse course and end their ambitions for nuclear weapons.''

Source: Agencies