A senior U.S. government official expressed optimism Wednesday on the prospects for the multilateral nuclear talks to be held this month on the 16-month standoff over North Korea's nuclear arms program.

Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed hope for the talks' outcome in a hearing of the House International Relations Committee. Washington's pointman on foreign affairs added that he was encouraged by the response of the other parties of the six-nation talks, but did not elaborate.

The two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan held their first round of negotiations on the nuclear issue last August in Beijing, but failed to produce a clear breakthrough.

Powell called on the communist North to heed the example of Libya, which pledged in December to give up its weapons of mass destruction.

The state secretary said that Libya has established a model that other countries, including North Korea, Iran and Syria, ought to follow.