"I'm here to do more progress on the September, 2005 agreement," Hill told reporters at the Beijing Capital International Airport.

"The DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) needs to get serious about the denuclearization issue," the U.S. chief negotiator said, adding "a lot of good things" could happen if the DPRK gets serious about the denuclearization issue.

He warned that nothing could achieve if the DPRK delegation is not serious about denuclearization.

"If they want to get out of the sanctions, they should denuclearize," Hill said.

"We are here trying to get something real to be accomplished," he said, adding it is up to the DPRK.

The U.S. chief negotiator also referred to UN Security Council Resolutions 1695 and 1718, which were adopted on July 15, 2006, and Oct. 14, 2006, respectively.

The DPRK knows well the two resolutions, Hill said, adding "they (the resolutions) remain on the talks as long as the DPRK is not denuclearized".

So far, the U.S. delegation has no confirmed plan yet to meet the DPRK side before the fresh round six-party talks. Hill said he will talk with the delegations of the Republic of Korea, China and Russia soon.

He expressed his hope that everybody is prepared to work very hard to "make some progress" in this round of talks.

Launched in 2003, the six-party talks have been held for five rounds. However, the talks have remained on hold since the DPRK walked out of the negotiations more than a year ago in response to U.S. sanctions.

Over the past 13 months, the parties concerned have been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activities in order to resume the talks.

Hill said the United States, together with China and Russia, had told the DPRK for many times in many occasions that they don't accept DPRK as a nuclear state.

"If they (the DPRK) want a future with us, want to work with us, and want to be a member of the international community, they have to get out of the nuclear business," he said.

Hill reiterated the U.S. delegation's commitment to the six-party process, vowing to solve the standoff through diplomatic negotiations.

Concerning the financial sanctions against the DPRK, Hill said it is not a focus of the six-party talks. The talks should fix on the implementation of the joint statement adopted by all parties concerned in September, 2005.

Five of all the six parties involved in the talks, namely, China, DPRK, the United States, ROK, Russia and Japan, have gathered in the Chinese capital to attend the upcoming talks scheduled to start in Beijing on Monday.

The six delegations are expected to hold several bilateral consultations on Sunday before the talks is formally launched Monday morning.