The United States is likely to announce a decision soon on whether it will hold bilateral talks with North Korea.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that the U.S. remains willing to talk to the North bilaterally, within the context of the six-way nuclear talks. He said, however, that Washington still has not decided on when and where such bilateral talks, if they occur, would take place.

Kelly said the department will wait to make a decision on the talks until Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returns from her current trip abroad.