SEOUL: Russia on Tuesday called for a solution to resume six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme as China said it was ready to work with its partners to bring the communist state back to dialogue.

"It is very important ... to find solutions acceptable for all parties" to restart negotiations on the denuclearisation of the North, Grigory Logvinov, deputy head of Moscow's delegation to the six-nation talks, told journalists.

Logvinov made the statement as he was heading into a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Hwang Joon-Kook here.

"You may agree that this is a time for the five countries to strengthen cooperation in formulating our common response to the current situation," Yonhap news agency quoted Hwang as telling Logvinov.

Earlier on Tuesday, Logvinov also met with Wi Sung-Lac, Seoul's chief envoy to the six-party talks.

Logvinov is scheduled to continue talks with Chinese officials in Beijing Wednesday, where Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China was "ready to work with the other parties to bring the issue back to the track of dialogue as soon as possible."

"We hope that relevant parties can... continue to promote the denuclearisation process and jointly safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia," she said.

Meanwhile, the US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, reiterated Tuesday in Tokyo that Washington was ready for bilateral talks with Pyongyang, but only as part of wider six-party denuclearisation talks.

Bosworth has repeatedly said that any direct talks would take place within the six-party framework, and his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki said Monday the US side had told him there were no short-term plans for talks.

North Korea said last week it had reached the final stages of enriching uranium and was also building more plutonium-based atomic weapons.

The communist state quit the six-party talks grouping the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China in April in protest at UN censure of a rocket launch.

It also carried out a second nuclear test in May, sparking further sanctions.

Bosworth was visiting the region after Pyongyang began to soften its posture recently and sought bilateral talks with Washington, while attempting to scrap the six-way talks.

The last round of the six-party disarmament forum was held in Beijing in December last year.