The United States urged North Korea Friday to make a solid commitment to ending its nuclear weapons programs during next week's round of six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing.

A U.S. official told Yonhap News Agency that a senior State Department official's remark on the need for North Korea to change its behavior means that Pyongyang should make a 'strategic decision'.

The multilateral nuclear discussions, the first in six months, are set to resume Feb. 25 and are expected to last three days.

They will bring together the two Koreas, China, Russia, the United States and Japan in an attempt to break the impasse over the 16-month North Korean nuclear crisis.

Meanwhile, Japanese foreign ministry officials said Saturday that Tokyo has prepared a basic strategic framework for the second round of six-way talks, in which it will demand that the North completely scrap its nuclear weapons development program.

They said the framework will also push for the North to acknowledge its highly-enriched uranium nuclear program which Pyongyang has publically denied having if it wants to receive energy assistance.

The officials added that Tokyo is considering referring the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council if the North does not comply with Japanese demands.