Chief US negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill said in Beijing Tuesday that the United States has approved the revised draft agreement.

"We've approved it," Hill said on early morning, adding that he had talked to the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "many times" last night, and Rice is "very much followed the details of the process".

Host China called a meeting of top negotiators from North Korea, the US, Japan and Russia at 10:30 AM.

Asked if he hopes North Korea will come back with a good answer on the draft presented by host China, Hill said, "I hope so."

An agreement on the first step toward the denuclearization of North Korea may come out on Tuesday as negotiations dragged into the sixth day.

The draft, circulated last Thursday, reportedly proposes halting within two months the work at nuclear sites in North Korea, including the Yongbyon reactor, and supplying Pyongyang with alternative energy sources.

The current phase of six-nation talks began on a promising note after North Korea and the United States showed a compromise in a landmark meeting in Berlin in January.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2007)