The six-way talks will take place Dec.10-13, the Japanese daily said in a report Wednesday, citing South Korean government officials who had been informed by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo. Beijing's top diplomat was here in Seoul this week for talks with South Korean officials on North Korea.

The first round of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia, held in August, fell short of expectations and ended without a plan for another meeting.

Quoting an official of the South Korean government, the newspaper said that the concerned nations have been working on pinning down a time and venue for the talks. The nations are considering holding a preliminary meeting a day before the talks, as they did in the talks in August, to discuss the form of the talks, the Asahi reported.

According to the newspaper, North Korea and the United States have "basically agreed" on the schedule. The Chinese government conveyed this opinion to South Korea through Dai during his visit here, the report said.

China has actively played the role of a mediator: The Chinese parliamentary leader Wu Bangguo visited North Korea at the end of October and got the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to agree to keep the six-party talks alive; Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited the United States to discuss the issue.

The Kyodo News also reported Wednesday, quoting a Russian source acquainted with North Korean affairs, that the six nations were negotiating to hold the talks in mid-December, and that North Korea has showed positive responses - that it would accept the talks if the conditions of guaranteeing its security are fulfilled.

(Jung Kwon-hyun, khjung@chosun.com )