A Russian official said on Monday that talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program could start early next month and should offer the communist regime reassurances, but Japan and the US stood by their tough line.
The comments came as South Korea, whose own conciliatory approach has come under fierce criticism since Pyongyang's October 9 nuclear test, rejected US pressure to join drills on inspecting North Korean cargo.
North Korea agreed to return to six-nation disarmament talks three weeks after its shock nuclear test. The Russian ambassador to Japan, Alexander Losyukov, said diplomats had proposed the start of next month for the discussions.
"According to the exchanges of diplomatic documents, there is a possibility that it will be held in early December," Losyukov told reporters in Tokyo.
The leaders of the five nations negotiating with North Korea -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- are expected to discuss the resumption of six-way talks when they meet this weekend for a summit in Hanoi.
The United States and Japan have supported a tough line against the North after its nuclear test, while the other three countries have favoured offering the regime more incentives.
North Korea had stayed away from talks since November last year to protest US financial sanctions against a bank accused of laundering and counterfeiting money for the regime.
Losyukov, who is a former negotiator in the six-party talks, said that the dialogue had "drastically changed" since its inception in 2003.
"North Korea once said it was a peaceful nation and that it would not go nuclear. Now it has declared the possession of nuclear weapons and its determination to protect itself with them," he said.
Losyukov said the best way to solve the stalemate is "to assure North Korea that its sovereignty will be inviolable."
"The strategy of threatening North Korea by saying 'we will force you to abandon nuclear ambitions unless you voluntarily give them up' -- I don't think it works," he said.
President George W. Bush famously branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." He has refused bilateral talks with the regime -- an option favoured by some in the rival Democratic Party, which swept US congressional elections last week.
The International Crisis Group in a report published on Monday urged the Bush administration to talk one-on-one with Kim Jong-Il's regime.
"The Bush administration has operated under the flawed assumption that direct negotiations with its foe are a concession, when this may be the only way of moving forward," the Brussels-based think tank said.
But Thomas Schieffer, the US ambassador to Japan, warned North Korea not to gloat over Bush's electoral rebuke. A pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan last week praised "wise" US voters.
"I hope that the North Koreans don't misinterpret these elections and think that they have greater leverage now," Schieffer, a close friend of Bush, told a business conference in Tokyo.
"Will it affect North Korea? No," he said.
He said the two major US parties both shared a commitment to defend Japan, which has been under the US security umbrella since its World War II defeat.
Japan is particularly sensitive to North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan's main island in 1998.
Japan called for a strong statement to North Korea by this weekend's 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Hanoi.
"It is important to send a united and strong message of international consensus," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki.
Six-way talks are hosted by China, Pyongyang's closest ally.
South Korea has been caught in the middle, as its government supports a "sunshine" policy of engaging its neighbour.
Seoul confirmed on Monday it would not join the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative drills to curb shipments of weapons of mass destruction for fear of sparking naval clashes.