The US chief negotiator on the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula said he would leave the door open for a two-way contact between Washington and Pyongyang if the latter sticks to the multilateral talks.

In an interview with the Hankyoreh newspaper published on Monday, Christopher Hill said the United States would deal flexibly with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as long as it holds fast to the six-party process.

"If they would like to talk to us in private, bilateral ways within the six-party process, or if they would like consultations between the rounds of the six-party process, I would be very open to those proposals," he said in the interview held here last week when he visited Seoul as part of his Northeast Asian trip.

When asked if such bilateral contact could be made at a venue separate from where the multilateral talks are held, Hill said, "I think we can look at that suggestion positively. We would be willing to talk, and I enjoy give-and-take."

The US diplomat, however, reiterated his opposition to Pyongyang's demand to turn the six-way talks into a bilateral process, saying, "We can be flexible within the six-party mechanism, a broad platform on which one can do a lot."

"What we cannot do is allow a situation where they try to bilateralize the talks and turn this into a US-North Korean talk where the other four parties are just spectators," he said.

As for the possibility of referring the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, he said, "No one is talking about taking this to (the) Security Council, but as Secretary Rice said, of course we reserve the right to do this because that is the purpose of the Security Council."