(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-30 23:41

Japan's top negotiator Kenichiro Sasae said the six parties had basically reached an agreement on the draft joint document.

"Further progress has been made for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the joint document," said Sasae at hotel Sunday afternoon after meeting the five counterparts.

On the economic and energy assistance to the DPRK and the future orientation of the talks, all delegations have reached an agreement in the document, said Sasae, refusing to reveal more details.

"Meanwhile, all parties have shown the understanding of pushing forward the relations between the DPRK and the United States and Japan," he said.

During the meetings held between Japan and the DPRK, both sides agreed that, despite the difficulty in improving and developing the Japan-DPRK relations, the two countries should conduct frequent and close consultations and carry out sincere dialogues to resolve the unsettled issues with common concerns, including the history and the abduction issues, Sasae said.

Wu Dawei said at his concluding remarks that the current session, which focused on discussing and drawing out an action plan for the second-phase implementation of the February joint statement, was an important one in the whole process of the six-party talks.

The current phase of the talks was scheduled to run from September 27 to 30. The two-day recess has given possibility to the resuming of the talks during one of China's "golden week" holidays, the National Day holiday.

The six parties signed a landmark agreement on February 13 when they finished the fifth round of the six-party talks.

According to the agreement, the DPRK must declare all nuclear programs and disable all existing nuclear facilities, while the other parties must provide a total of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid to the DPRK.

The first phase of the sixth round of talks was held in March, which ended with a chairman's statement.

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