Concerned parties will keep contacts on Thursday when the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue enters the third day.

US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said Thursday morning that the US delegation will hold one-on-one meetings with delegations of North Korea and Japan, respectively, during the day.

China held consultations on Wednesday with Russia and the US separately; North Korea with the US and Japan; South Korea with Russia and Japan, and Russia with Japan and the US, Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Jianchao said Wednesday.

They discussed important issues involved in the second phase of the fourth-round talks while enunciating their positions and setting forth their suggestions and ideas on how to narrow differences, Liu said.

Hill said Wednesday evening that the first meeting with the North Korean delegation "did not make a lot of progress," adding that North Korea demanded a light-water reactor which is not included in the draft common document.

Hill said on Thursday morning when leaving the hotel that he had "much patience" and hoped for "a better day."

South Korea chief negotiator Song Min-soon on Wednesday pointed out that North Korea's demand for a light-water reactor and the scope of nuclear dismantlement remain the two crucial differences in the current phase of the six-party talks.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)