The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) yesterday urged the United States to keep up the six-party talks, aimed at resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

"To do harm to the six-party talks precisely means damaging the interests of all the countries concerned including the US," said the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"This would only result in making the position of the US in the Asia-Pacific region and the international community more difficult," it added.

The KCNA accused U.S. "conservative hardliners," who said the United States "should not have any negotiations with North Korea," of thwarting the six-party talks.

However, it mentioned neither the hardliners' names, nor the time and place of such remarks.

The US State Department said Friday that senior nuclear envoy Sung Kim will visit Pyongyang next week to discuss the DPRK's disablement of its nuclear plants.