U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says all parties in the multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program are united in the view that there has to be a non-nuclear Korean peninsula.

She made the comments Wednesday on the way back to the United States after an Asian tour, just days after North Korea announced it will end a yearlong boycott and return to disarmament talks July 25.  Ms. Rice said the United States and its four allies must work intensively so they provide a common front when talks resume.

Earlier Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a Chinese envoy in Pyongyang his country's goal is a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and added he hopes the six-party talks can be the first step.