The United States remains unchanged in its North Korea policy that it is up to the communist nation to reopen the six-party talks on its nuclear program, an official said Monday, urging Pyongyang to honor international obligations.

"Nothing has changed on our policy," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a regular briefing. "The fact is that the ball remains in North Korea's court. They need to abide by their international obligations. As you know, we remain in close touch with our six-party partners. But nothing has changed or no indications have changed from North Korea."

She made her remark in response to a question whether an upcoming gathering in Japan of the chief nuclear envoys from the United States, South Korea and Japan are aimed at restarting the nuclear talks that have been stalled since late 2008.

Amb. Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, is scheduled to visit Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday for trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

After Tokyo, Kim is also scheduled to visit China, the host for the six-party talks.

North Korea has long called for resuming the six-party talks without preconditions. But the U.S. has demanded Pyongyang first take concrete steps demonstrating that it would be serious about giving up its nuclear program if the stalled negotiations reopen. (Yonhap)