SEOUL — The United States is willing to sign a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War by September, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea reportedly told lawmakers here.

U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Washington hopes to complete a process of normalizing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, according to Kim Jong-Yul from the ruling Uri Party.

Kim released to local media a transcript that had been translated into Korean following a May 9 closed-door meeting between Vershbow and five Uri Party lawmakers, including Rep. Kim Hyuk-Kyu, a close confidant of President Roh Moo-Hyun.

The meeting was arranged to discuss security policies after a recent visit to North Korea by a group of Uri lawmakers led by Kim Hyuk-Kyu. The lawmakers said they conveyed North Korea's denuclearization commitment to Vershbow at the meeting.

The United States "is prepared to sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and establish a permanent peace regime [on the Korean peninsula] ahead of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] forum in September," Vershbow said according to a copy of the transcript obtained by East-Asia-Intel.

"The Bush administration has its intention and goal to resolve [the nuclear] issue in a diplomatic manner before he leaves office. But it does not have much time."

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul denied the remarks, saying the ambassador had been misquoted.

"The U.S. government is not seeking any other milestones beyond those stipulated in the six-party talks including the September 2005 Joint Statement of principles and the Feb. 13 agreement," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

"The U.S. position remains that the negotiation of a permanent peace regime and negotiations on normalization of relations between the United States and the DPRK should go hand in hand with negotiations on denuclearization." the Embassy said. An original English transcript of the meeting was not available.

Despite the Embassy's denial, Rep. Kim, who released the transcript, insisted the Vershbow clearly suggested through a translator that a peace treaty could be reached by the September regional forum if North Korea moves to disarm.