Korea talks still on, Downer says
 |  Downer, left, with Wen Jiabao in Beijing. |
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 Six-nation talks end without breakthrough
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BEIJING, China -- China has told Australia that talks on the North Korean crisis have not been cancelled, one day after Pyongyang ruled out attending another round.
After meeting with Chinese officials, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told a news conference on Tuesday the message he had received was "no scheduled time has been determined for that meeting, not that the meeting has been cancelled."
On Monday, North Korea said it wouldn't participate in working-level meetings connected to six-party talks on its nuclear program.
A North Korean foreign ministry statement accused the United States of not being interested in a meaningful dialogue and said there were no plans to shut down the country's nuclear facilities.
Australia has joined efforts to help resolve the 22-month nuclear impasse, with Downer discussing the issue with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on Monday.
Downer is set to head to Pyongyang for a rare visit on Tuesday, where he has said he would try to convince the isolated state of the advantages to be gained by abandoning its nuclear program.
Delegates attending six-nations talks in June had planned a fourth round of talks, after a third round ended in Beijing.
The nations -- the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan -- said at the time they had agreed to hold further talks by the end of September.
They had also pledged to take the first steps to resolve the 20-month old nuclear deadlock as soon as possible.
Host China said the six nations found some common ground, with all parties agreeing that a freeze of the North's nuclear program should be a first step, but an official said that the United States and North Korea were still poles apart.
A key issue separating the two is Washington's claim that the North is operating a secret uranium-based nuclear program in addition to its declared program based on plutonium.
The North denies having a uranium program, but Washington says it must be included in any settlement.
The United States has labeled the reclusive North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq.
North Korea has offered to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for compensation, including large amounts of energy aid.
