South Korea, Japan, the United States, Russia and China received notifications at the same time from the Stalinist state, whose latest move triggered optimism throughout the region that a breakthrough in the nine-month nuclear stand-off was at hand.

No timetable for negotiations has been revealed, but a senior US official said that talks could take place as early as this month.

US President George W. Bush, who had apparently received information on North Korea's intentions in a telephone conversation Wednesday with Chinese leader Hu Jintao, spoke of "serious progress" in the standoff.

Japanese leaders welcomed signs that North Korea was finally showing flexibility while South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Sun-Heung said that months of tough diplomacy may finally be paying off.

"We have been exerting our efforts to resolve this matter with close cooperation with related countries and we think our efforts are bearing fruit," he said.

South Koran officials said the Stalinist state had abandoned, at least for now, its long-standing demand for one-on-one talks with Washington and was ready to engage directly in six-party talks without a resumption of exploratory three-party talks held in Beijing in April.

The North Koreans had also apparently dropped all reference to a non-aggression pact, one of the country's key demands since the nuclear crisis erupted in October last year.

"North Korea expressed its intention to accept six-party talks directly without going through three-way talks or bilateral talks," Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuk told a news briefing here.

No date for talks has been fixed, he said, but the venue was certain to be Beijing.

First public word of the agreement came from the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow which issued a statement on North Korea's decision late Thursday.

Experts and analysts said they expected talks to go ahead soon but cautioned against undue optimism.

"When they sit down for talks, that is when the going gets tough," said Yu Suk-Ryul, North Korean expert at the government-affiliated Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security here.

"North Korea has got to explain when and how it is going to dismantle its nuclear weapons programmes and then Washington and the rest of the participants are going to have to meet North Korea's demands for security and economic help. This will be long and difficult."

Washington held inconclusive three-way talks with China and North Korea in Beijing in April, and has been campaigning to get allies South Korea and Japan as well as Russia involved in any new consultations.

North Korea had previously insisted on a non-aggression pact and one-on-one talks with the United States prior to any multilateral talks.