Rice says no firm deadline for six-party talks

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington would not set a deadline to reach a deal in six-party talks on North Korea but made clear next week's negotiations must not be held just for the sake of talking.

''I don't think anyone would ask us that we set a firm deadline by which if we cannot do this, then the talks end,'' Rice told reporters after meeting Australian ministers to discuss a range of issues, including North Korea.

But she said North Korea must demonstrate in the talks, set to begin in Beijing on December. 18, that it was committed to denuclearization, particularly following its October. 9 nuclear test which resulted in UN sanctions against the North.

Asked whether the United States planned to offer further incentives to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, Rice said the agreement reached in September 2005 laid out clearly what Pyongyang would get in terms of economic and other benefits if it complied.

''And so there's a full programme there. And what we don't want to do is to get into a circumstance where we're just talking about tit for tat, but rather, keeping an eye on really important steps forward along the road of denuclearization,'' she said.

Under the September deal, North Korea agreed to ''abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs'' in return for aid and security guarantees from the United States and other countries.

The talks between the Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China stalled late last year over Pyongyang's objections to US financial penalties. Washington said North Korea was counterfeiting US currency and trafficking drugs.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was sure the Americans wanted the talks over by the Christmas holiday. ''Let's hope it will,'' quipped Rice to laughter.

Downer praised China's role in getting the talks resumed and said he hoped they would produce real results this time.

''There are constructive ideas on the table, and they should be picked up,'' he said, adding, ''Hopefully, by Christmas, even -- maybe a bit later -- but hopefully, by that sort of time, we'll see some real progress on this issue of denuclearization.'' REUTERS DKS PM0436