WASHINGTON, Jan 8: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday said chances for a fresh round of six-way talks on ending North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program appeared to be improving.

"Even though we haven't had a six-party meeting for some time, I expect that the prospects of having one are improving," Mr Powell told reporters, alluding to six-party talks that include the United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia.

On Tuesday, Mr Powell called a North Korean offer to freeze its nuclear power industry as well as to refrain from testing or making nuclear weapons a "positive step," a view largely echoed by South Korean and Japanese officials.

Mr Powell said considerable work was going on among the six parties, whose first round of talks ended inconclusively in August, to prepare the way for a new round of discussions.

"Some of our other colleagues in the six-party framework have expressed appreciation for the North Korean statement and I hope that this will improve the atmosphere for the talks," Mr Powell said. "But we really just don't want another set of talks that are the exchange of the old positions - we want something that will result in a step forward and that's what we're hard at work on."-Reuters