North Korea has adopted a wait-and-see attitude on the six-party talks, diminishing hopes that a fourth round of talks may be held before the year's end, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

A ministry spokesman cited sentiment from North Korean officials when they met with Beijing's envoy on Korean peninsula affairs, Ning Fukui, late last month.

The spokesman quoted the North's officials including Kim Gwe-kwan, Pyongyang's main representative to the six-party talks, as saying North Korea was waiting to see if the U.S. will change its hostile stance toward the Stalinist state.