A new round of six-party talks designed to solve nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula is due to begin between Dec. 16 and 18 in Beijing, China, the State Department said yesterday.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Christopher Hill will head the American delegation to attend the talks, State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said.

The six-party talks have stalled since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) walked out of the negotiations with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia a year ago.

The DPRK agreed to return to the talks in November after a wave of international condemnation over its Oct. 9 nuclear test.

"At this discussion, we expect that the parties will discuss ways to implement the September 2005 joint statement," Moore said.

In that more than one-year-old joint statement, the DPRK said it was committed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs."