DPRK could return to six-party talks on its nuclear programs in late January after US President Bush forms his new cabinet, Russian ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov said Monday.

"Probably, the negotiations could be restarted sometime at the end of January," Losyukov, Russia's former point man on the talks, told reporters. "We think the sooner we restart the negotiations, the better."

DPRK said on Saturday it would not return to the talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, until Bush assembled his new team and Washington decided its policy toward Pyongyang.

The six parties have met for three rounds of talks in Beijing but made little progress. A fourth round scheduled for September never materialized.

The nuclear standoff started two years ago when U.S. officials said DPRK had admitted to pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program, something the North has since denied.

Source: Agencies