The United States has entered the final stage of arranging a visit to North Korea by the end of the year by Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korean policy, sources close to six-party nuclear disarmament talks said Friday.

A high-ranking State Department official said an announcement on Bosworth's trip will be made "soon," but not later Friday or at the weekend.

One of the sources familiar with the six-way process said the move followed a recent U.S.-North Korean agreement to have Bosworth and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju meet in Pyongyang within the framework of the six-way negotiations.

Another source said President Barack Obama is likely to make a final decision on Bosworth's visit ahead of his Asia swing beginning next week and brief other countries on it.

According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Bosworth attended a U.S.-South Korean business conference in Washington on Thursday and said he will travel to North Korea by the end of the year.

North Korea agreed in September 2005 to scrap its nuclear programs in an aid-for-denuclearization deal struck at the six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

But North Korea withdrew from the multilateral talks in April in protest against the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch, which was widely regarded as a long-range missile test. Pyongyang added to the tension by detonating a nuclear device for the second time in May.

In September, the United States announced a plan to seek direct talks with North Korea as part of efforts to restart the six-party negotiations, which have been stalled since last December.