SEOUL/TOKYO, July 12: Japan and the United States urged Pyongyang on Tuesday to abandon nuclear weapons or risk failure in six-nation talks, while South Korea offered to supply its reclusive neighbour with electricity in return for a deal.

North Korea has agreed to return to negotiations on its nuclear ambitions with the United States, host China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

The meeting — the first since June 2004 — will be held in the week of July 25. Japan’s Kyodo news agency, quoting Japanese government sources, reported late on Tuesday that the talks would open on July 27 and run for around three days.

“What we really need is a strategic decision on the part of the North that they are indeed ready to give up nuclear weapons because, without that, these talks cannot be successful,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a news conference in Tokyo.

“Just having a meeting is meaningless. If you don’t make any progress, there is no point,” Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at his residence after his meeting with Rice.

Rice arrived from Tokyo in Seoul for the final leg of a four-nation Asian trip. As she arrived, South Korea said it would supply 2 million kilowatts of power directly to the North if it agreed to end its nuclear weapons programmes.—Reuters