Six-party talks
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-21 14:42

Reporters take pictures of a vehicle carrying South Korean delegation members to Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, June 21, 2004. [Xinhua]

The second working group meeting for the six-party talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula took off at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Monday morning in preparation for the third round of six-party talks June 23-26.[Xinhua]

A vehicle carrying DPRK's delegation members enters the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, June 21, 2004. [Xinhua] A vehicle carrying United States delegation members enters the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, June 21, 2004. [Xinhua]

The second working group meeting began in Beijing Monday morning to make preparation for the third round of the six-party talks to be held from June 23 to 26.

The closed-door meeting will last two days. Sources said that Ning Fukui, ambassador on Korean Peninsula affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and head of the Chinese working group presided over the meeting.

The six-party talks, attended by China, the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea(ROK) Russia and Japan, is established to settle the nuclear issueon the Korean peninsular.

The other delegations participating in the working-level meeting Monday were headed respectively by Li Gun, deputy director-general of the American Department of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, Saiki Akitaika, deputy director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Cho Tae-yong, director-general of the ROK Foreign Ministry's task force on the North Korea nuclear issue, V. Sukhinin, deputy director of the first Asian Department of Russian Foreign Ministry and Joseph R. DeTrani, US State Department special envoy for negotiations with North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said that the working group meeting will focus on preparation for substantial contents to be discussed at the talks, and relevant documents and arrangements will also be under discussion.

The first round of the six-party talks was held in Beijing fromthe August 26 to 28 of 2003. The six parties agreed to establish a working group mechanism during the second round of the six-party talks in Beijing late February.

The first working group meeting was held in Beijing from May 12 to 15. The participants confirmed that the third round of six-party talks will be held before the end of June as scheduled. Theyhad a frank and pragmatic exchange of views on nuclear-weapon-free issue, security guarantee and measures for nuclear freezing. Enditem