A senior US official said Thursday that "there is a lot of work left to do in the six- party talks" although the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) has pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs.

"There are a lot of very tough negotiations ahead of us if we are to succeed in coming to a diplomatic resolution finally resulting in a denuclearized Korean peninsula," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing.

"The beginning of the discussion about verification measures, which we expect will be as difficult, if not more difficult, than this previous round that we went through."

"But we are going there with a seriousness of purpose, and we believe all the other parties are there as well, operating on the basis of the statement of principles," McCormack said.

Under the "Statement of Principles" agreed to at the 2nd phase meeting of the fourth round of the six-party talks, the DPRK agreed in principle to disband its nuclear weapons network in return for security guarantees and energy aid.

The six-party talks, involving the United States, the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, China, Russia and Japan, would resume in early November to discuss verification and other measures following Pyongyang's pledge to dismantle its atomic activities.

Source: Xinhua