Senior US and North Korean envoys held rare face-to-face talks Saturday in New York, the State Department said, amid growing hopes of progress in stalled nuclear talks.

Ri Gun, a deputy negotiator in stalled six-nation talks over the hermit state's nuclear program, arrived on Friday with his delegation on the eve of the meeting with the US special envoy on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

"Ambassador Sung Kim took the opportunity to meet with him (Ri) in New York on October 24 to convey our position on denuclearization and the six-party talks," State Department spokesman Noel Clay said in a statement.

Kim and US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Derek Mitchell will participate in the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue in San Diego beginning Sunday that Ri is also expected to attend, Clay added.

Ri's rare visit fueled speculation that North Korea is preparing to return to talks about its nuclear weapons program with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said this week that Washington was ready to meet one-on-one with Pyongyang but only if it "rapidly" leads to full-fledged denuclearization talks in the six-nation forum.

The visit came after Washington took the unusual step of granting a visa to the North Korean officials, but Clay stressed that Ri "has traveled to the US on the invitation of US private organizations."

Prior to the San Diego event, the North Korean delegation was scheduled to attend a seminar in New York hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the Korea Society.

On October 6, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told Chinese envoys the North was willing to return to six-way talks, but insisted it first negotiate directly with the United States to repair "hostile relations."

Campbell said the United States "would be prepared for, in the right circumstances at some point, some initial interaction" with North Korea "that would lead rapidly to a six-party framework."

North Korea has long sought to meet exclusively with the United States and gain recognition as a nuclear weapons state.