The United States expressed hope on Tuesday that the six-party talks to be resumed on Feb. 8 will make "substantial" progress in trying to dismantle the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "We've now gone through some additional consultations and I think we're hopeful that this round will, in fact, achieve that objective and we'll be able to see some substantial progress on it, " State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said at a briefing.

Top nuclear negotiators from the United States and the DPRK met recently in Berlin to discuss how to make progress in the six- party talks.

China announced on Tuesday that the six-party talks will be resumed in Beijing on Feb. 8.

During the round of six-party talks in September 2005, the DPRK signed a statement agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries. However, the DPRK refused to return to the talks as a result of U.S. financial sanctions.

Under pressure, the DPRK returned to the talks in December held in Beijing. However, the talks failed to make progress.

Source: Xinhua