Four delegations from
Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and the United States,
arrived in Beijing Monday for the six-party talks on the Korean
nuclear issue, which are scheduled to open Wednesday.
The delegation of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is expected to arrive
Tuesday for the talks.
The three-day talks,
which are scheduled to be held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse,
are widely seen as an important step towards a peaceful solution of
the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, following on the
"Beijing Talks" in April.
Beijing hosted initial
talks with Washington and Pyongyang in April, but no details were
given out by the participants.
The heads of the
delegations to the talks are Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi;
Kim Yong-il, DPRK deputy foreign minister; James Kelly, assistant
secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United
States; Alexander Losiukov, Russian deputy foreign minister; Lee
Soo-hyuck, ROK deputy minister of foreign affairs and trade; and
Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general for the Asian and Oceanian
Affairs Bureau of Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Some 500 reporters, from
home and abroad, have applied to the Chinese Foreign Ministry to
cover the talks, sources said.
Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Losiukov said Monday morning at Beijing airport that he is
"discreetly optimistic" about the upcoming talks.
The talks follow a
flurry of diplomatic activities to restart talks on the nuclear
standoff, which erupted in October after US officials claimed
Pyongyang had admitted to reviving a program to produce atomic
weapons.
(China Daily August 26,
2003)