British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell says North Korea is committed to holding six-party talks aimed at settling the communist state's nuclear standoff. But Rammell was quick to add Pyongyang has not indicated when it will return to negotiations.

Rammel made the comments in Beijing after completing a four-day visit to the Stalinist state on Tuesday.

Rammel said his discussions with the North Koreans had led him to believe that the North is still committed to the six-party talks process, but that it wasn't prepared to commit to a date.

The two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan had agreed at the previous round of negotiations in June to hold the fourth round of six-way nuclear talks by the end of this month.

Efforts to open the talks as scheduled have been stymied since mid-August when the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused the United States of disinterest in meaningful dialogue and declared there were no plans to shut down the country's nuclear facilities.