US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will hold talks with visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon Tuesday evening on the six-party talks, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing on Tuesday.

"Secretary Rice is getting together with the South Korean foreign minister late this afternoon. I believe the meeting happens around 6:00," McCormack said.

"So this is all part of, within the context of the six-party talks, laying what we hope is the diplomatic groundwork to make progress when the talks resume," he said.

The spokesman said that the United States supports the proposal put forward by South Korea in the six-party talks to address the energy issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"We thought that the South Korean proposal is a creative way to address North Korean's energy needs, and I expect that the secretary will talk with the foreign minister about that as well as other bilateral issues, US-South Korean bilateral issues and issues related to the six-party talks," he said.

South Korea has said that the DPRK has the right to a peaceful nuclear program, a view in apparent conflict with the United States. However, both the United States and South Korea have tried to play down any conflict between the two allies.

Source: Xinhua