North Korea and the United States will hold direct talks on the North’s suspected highly enriched uranium (HEU) program in the near future.

Sources said the two sides were expected to address the sensitive issue through one of the bilateral mechanisms they had used to resolve the dispute over the North’s frozen funds at a Macao bank.

As Pyongyang will seek direct talks with Washington on other important issues, the six-party process may be affected.

A diplomatic source close to the six-party talks said the bilateral mechanisms within the six-party framework, such as the working group on U.S.-North Korea normalization and on the North's denuclearization, could become venues for negotiating on the list of nuclear programs.

Top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill returned to Seoul from Pyongyang on Friday but declined to give details about the HEU issue.