With Japanese delegation's arrival in Beijing on Sunday
afternoon, the delegations of all the six parties involved in the
negotiations on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, once
again, gathered in the Chinese capital to prepare for a new round
of talks.
The six parties, including China, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea
(ROK), Russia and Japan, will have the second meeting on the
working group level from Monday to Tuesday and then hold the third
round of six-party talks from Wednesday to Saturday at Beijing's
Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
The ROK, the United States and Japan were said to have a
trilateral meeting on Sunday afternoon in Beijing, coordinating
their stances in the upcoming negotiations, according to the ROK
Yonhap (United) News Agency.
A senior official of the Russian delegation said upon arriving
at the Beijing international airport that Russia expected the third
round of six-party talks to produce certain realistic results as
the parties involved shared some consensus in stances.
The Russian official said Russia's position on the nuclear issue
remained unchanged as it was at the first and second rounds of
talks and the Russian side hoped the third round of talks will go
on smoothly.
However, the Japanese side said at the airport that the
six-party talks were challenged by many difficulties and the
results cannot be predicted as the talks have not started yet.
No immediate comments from the other three delegations, among
which the ROK delegation arrived on Sunday and the delegations from
the DPRK and the United States got to Beijing respectively on
Saturday.
Russian Ambassador at Large Alexander Alexeyev has been
appointed Russia's new special envoy to the third round of
six-party talks, replacing Alexander Losyukov, Russia's current
ambassador to Japan and former Deputy Foreign Minister, who headed
the Russian delegation at the first and second rounds of talks in
August 2003 and February this year.
The heads of the other delegations remained unchanged, who are
China's Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, DPRK's Deputy Foreign
Minister Kim Kye-gwan, US Assistant Secretary of State for East
Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States James Kelly, ROK's
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lee Soo-Hyuck and
Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the
Japanese Foreign Ministry Mitoji Yabunaka.
The delegation heads from the five foreign parties are expected
to arrive in Beijing respectively from June 21 to 22, according to
sources.
As host of the six-party talks, China earlier called for
"reasonable expectations" on the third round of negotiations in
view of the intricacy of the nuclear issues. But Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said China will continue to engage itself
in promoting peaceful negotiations to push the six-party talks
forward.
(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2004)