North Korean Ambassador to Australia Chon Jae-hong has urged Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to pass the North's message on to the United States that it should negotiate directly with Pyongyang on the nuclear crisis.

Chon made the statement after meeting with with Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd at the Australian Parliament House on Wednesday.

The ambassador was speaking publicly for the first time since North Korea declared last week that it possessed nuclear weapons and would no longer participate in six-party talks.

Chon said he believed direct Pyongyang-Washington talks were the best way to secure a peaceful resolution.