Host nation China, the US, the DPRK, South Korea and Japan will
kick off their meeting on the North Korea nuclear issue
Wednesday.
The Russian delegation was the first foreign delegation to
arrive in Beijing.
Chinese and Russian officials Monday in Beijing urged all six
parties to the talks to show flexibility and sincerity and avoid
confrontations when discussing concrete problems.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian
counterpart Alexander Losiukov, also heads of the Chinese and
Russian delegations, made this appeal during their consultation on
the impending talks.
China also met with the United States ahead of the talks, said a
source with the Foreign Ministry press office Tuesday morning.
The closed-door meeting was presided over by Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Assistant Secretary of State James
Kelly, to coordinate efforts in the six-party talks.
Also on Tuesday, the Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign
Minister Alexander Losiukov held talks with the Japanese delegation
headed by Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and
Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. They met
in the Russian embassy in China, said a?source.
The South Korean delegation to the nuclear talks, which are
geared to finding a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), headed for Beijing on
Tuesday morning.
The South Korean delegation's departure came one day after
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo held consultations on joint strategies
for the talks in Beijing.
The three
countries agreed to attend the new round of talks with great
patience and try to bring them to a conclusion with concrete
progress.
China had a meeting scheduled with the North Korean
representatives at 11:00 AM Tuesday at the Diaoyutai State
Guesthouse.
The DPRK delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Kim
Kye-gwan, had just arrived in Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2004)