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By George Nishiyama

TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programme could resume in early July and be followed by a meeting of their foreign ministers, the top U.S. nuclear envoy said on Wednesday.

But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill also said Pyongyang would first need to move on shutting down its nuclear reactor as agreed under a Feb. 13 deal clinched at the last round of the six-party talks.

"We don't want to have the six-party talks before we've gotten going on shutting down the reactor," Hill told reporters after meeting Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi.

North Korea said on Saturday it would allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the country as part of the February deal after nearly $25 million in funds Washington had blocked for nearly two years started to make its way back to the North.

An unidentified North Korean diplomatic source, quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency on Monday, said the North would seal the reactor at Yongbyon, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, in the second half of July.

"The Chinese have some ideas about maybe we could do something early in July," Hill said when asked about the timing of the next round of the six-party talks.

"I would rather not be it on the Fourth of July. I would like it immediately after the Fourth of July."

North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles that coincided with July 4 celebrations of America's Independence Day last year, including a long-range rocket that had a theoretical capability of reaching the U.S. west coast.

China has hosted previous rounds of the six-country talks that also bring together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Hill, who visited China and South Korea this week, said Washington is consulting the other six-party members about their next meeting, including North Korean officials through their United Nations mission in New York.

Hill also said he hoped that the next round of the six-party talks would lead to a meeting among foreign ministers of the member states when they gather for a regional security forum in the Philippines in August.

Pyongyang had missed a mid-April deadline to shut the Yongbyon reactor because of the feud over its funds, blocked over U.S. allegations of North Korean involvement in dollar counterfeiting and other illicit activity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) plans to send a senior delegation to North Korea next week to agree details for a return of its inspectors to monitor the reactor shutdown, agreed to under Pyongyang's Feb. 13 deal with regional powers.

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