Russia says it wants a six-party working group for negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program to meet by the beginning of May.

Alexander Losyukov, Russia's chief delegate to the recent six-nation nuclear talks, said the end of April or beginning of May would be a sensible and acceptable time for the meeting.

South and North Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan met last week in Beijing in a second round of talks to seek a diplomatic solution to the international standoff over North Korea's nuclear programs.

The talks ended without a major breakthrough, but the six nations agreed to hold a third round of talks by the end of June. They also agreed to convene a lower-level working group to continue discussions in between the high-level nuclear talks.

After the Beijing talks, Losyukov said U.S. military intervention could become a possibility if no movement toward an agreement appeared.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Russian expert in Asian security as saying the new working group would consist of between seven and ten representatives from each participating country.