Chief delegates of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States and Russia to the six-party nuclear talks agreed in Seoul Wednesday the multilateral negotiation must be resumed before the end of the year at the latest.  

ROK Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said he also shared the view with US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseyev that whatever format a six-nation meeting takes, it must take place.

"It would be problematic if (the nuclear talks) miss the end of this year," Lee told reporters. "We need to confirm that the six-party process is still going on."

Lee also said the six countries may even convene an "unofficial" meeting should there be an agreement on that.

"We're in a flexible position," he said.

The three top negotiators to the six-party talks aimed to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula held meeting earlier Wednesday here. Kelly and Alekseyev were in Seoul on different missions.

The Russian deputy foreign minister is in the ROK attending the sixth ROK-Russian Forum, a governmental consultation body, which gets underway at Pyeongchang, a resort in eastern ROK.

Kelly was in Seoul accompanying US Secretary of State Colin Powell. They arrived in Seoul late Monday as part of a three-nation Asian tour, which has already taken them to Tokyo and Beijing.

Powell wrapped up his visit here and left for Washington Tuesday afternoon, but Kelly stayed behind for meetings with his Russian counterpart as well as ROK officials.

China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, Russia, the ROK and Japan held three rounds of nuclear talks as efforts to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

A scheduled fourth round of six-party nuclear talks failed to be convened.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2004)