WASHINGTON (AP) – Expressing deep concern about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, senior U.S. and Japanese officials on Saturday pressed the communist nation to soon resume international talks aimed at halting its arms development.

The North Korean government gave no indication it was interested.

“It really is time for North Korea to take seriously the concern of the international community” and return to talks involving the United States and four other nations, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after joining Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in a meeting with their Japanese counterparts.

Negotiations among two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States offer North Korea the best path forward to security assurances and a better life for its people, Rice said at a news conference at the State Department.

“The North Koreans are continuing to bring about their own isolation by not dealing with this problem,” Rice said.

But North Korea is not ready to resume the talks and does not want direct meetings with Washington, according to a report Saturday from China’s official news agency, citing an unidentified North Korean official.

Rice made clear the Bush administration has not offered one-on-one negotiations and that the six-nation forum is what is available.

Japan’s foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, joined Rice in urging an “early and unconditional resumption” of the talks.

Since 2003, China has hosted three inconclusive rounds of discussions. North Korea refused to attend a fourth round, scheduled for last September, accusing the United States of trying to topple its government.

Machimura said there were “no prospects as to when they will return, but time is slipping by and this only worsens the situation.” He suggested other countries might take a tougher line against North Korea should the impasse persist.

Added Rice: “They ought to return to those talks so that people don’t have to contemplate other measures. They have a path ahead of them.”

Machimura also said he hoped China, “will serve the role not just as a mere moderator, but also as a player actively at work on the North Koreans” to rejoin the talks.

A top Chinese Communist Party official was in the North Korean capital on Saturday for a meeting with the North’s No. 2 leader. Rice said she hoped Beijing would convey the message that it believes “there can be no nuclear weapons” in either Korea.

Reviving the stalled talks has become more urgent after North Korea’s unconfirmed declaration this month that is has become a nuclear power.

The U.S. and Japanese officials, in joint statement, said North Korea’s nuclear program “poses a serious challenge” to nonproliferation efforts and “represents a direct threat to peace and stability of the northeast Asian region, including Japan.”

The statement said the ministers also “expressed their concern over North Korea’s missile program and decided to continue to share information with a view to maintaining preparedness for any situation.”

Regarding China’s threat to use force against Taiwan, Rice said the four officials talked about their “desire for cooperative relations with China, our desire to ensure that the cross-(Taiwan) Strait issues can be resolved peacefully.”

It was her only reference to the matter in a 45-minute news conference. In a longer statement on their cooperation on international issues, the United States and Japan put “the peaceful resolution of issues concerning the Taiwan Strait through dialogue” on a list of 12 strategic objectives.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province that must be reabsorbed by the mainland. Taiwan split with China amid a civil war in 1949.

Rumsfeld and Japanese Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono said their two countries value and benefit from a relationship that provides peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The meetings, Rumsfeld said, offered “an opportunity to take stock and continue the momentum toward strengthening and transforming this important alliance.”

In their statement the two allies “reaffirmed the continuing strength and vitality of U.S.-Japanese security arrangements and expressed confidence n their capacity to deter and address challenges to regional peace and stability.”

The two countries also joined in urging North Korea “to speedily and completely resolve” a dispute over the North’s abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Korea has admitted that it kidnapped about a dozen Japanese to train its spies and allowed five to return while claiming the rest died. But Tokyo still believe some could still be alive in the North and has rejected Pyongyang’s explanations as not credible.

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AP-ES-02-19-05 1735EST