The US top nuclear negotiator reiterated Thursday that the United States does not intend to invade the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and is ready to meet Pyongyang over the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

The United States has absolutely no intentions of invading DPRK,said Christopher Hill, US ambassador to South Korea and US head delegate to the six-party nuclear talks, in a discussion session at the Asian Leadership Conference being held in Seoul.

"I would say we are very much ready (to talk to DPRK)," Hill was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency as saying.

The US ambassador also said his country would be ready to discuss any of the DPRK's demands for its abandoning of the nuclear weapons program if and when the DPRK returns to the stalled talks, reported Yonhap.

"Certainly the United States believes the six-party process is absolutely the best way to deal with this problem," he said.

Since August 2003, China, the United States, the DPRK, Russia, South Korea and Japan have held three rounds of talks in Beijing aimed at peacefully resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang refused to attend the fourth round scheduled for last September, citing hostile US policy.

The DPRK announced on Feb. 10, 2005 that it was suspending participation in the six-party nuclear talks indefinitely and for the first time admitted possessing nuclear arms for self-defense.