After a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts during a month of recess, the six-party talks aimed at ending the nuclear standoff in the Korean Peninsula will resume today in Beijing.

The prospects of the fourth round of the talks remain unclear, as Pyongyang and Washington are still far apart in the scope of the denuclearization. However, negotiators have promised to make joint efforts for the adoption of a common document.

The six parties involved are China, the US, Russia, Japan, South and North Korea.

Alexander Alexeyev, head of the Russian delegation to the talks said when he arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport yesterday that the Russian side would try its best, and hoped that all the other parties would make joint efforts.

The talks, originally scheduled to restart at the end of August, have been delayed by two weeks because of Pyongyang's protests against joint US-South Korea military exercises and the US appointment of a special envoy on North Korean human rights conditions.

During the recess, US and North Korean officials met several times in New York.

The chief US negotiator Christopher Hill said yesterday in Seoul that Washington had used the one-month recess very constructively and productively.

"We are ready and we will see the mood of the North Korean delegates," Hill was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency in a meeting with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young.

In response, Chung said he will assist the progress at the Beijing talks when attending an upcoming inter-Korean Cabinet-level meeting in Pyongyang, which are being held at the same time as the talks in Beijing

South Korea called yesterday for talks with the North on working out a lasting peace treaty to end five decades of Cold War confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

Hill arrived in Seoul yesterday for prior consultation before going to Beijing today for full-session talks.

Last week, ahead of his departure, Hill seemed cautious about the prospect of the upcoming denuclearization talks.

"I don't want to say whether I am optimistic or pessimistic," Hill said.

He confirmed that the upcoming meeting will be open-ended, saying that "we will be there as long as it's useful to be there."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said last week that China hopes that all related parties can seize this opportunity with a spirit of mutual respect to find a solution through negotiation that takes into consideration the concerns and interests of all parties and is acceptable to all.

The key dispute is to which extent North Korea's nuclear program should be dismantled.

The US side insists that the North should give up all nuclear programs, including one for civilian purposes. North Korea has vowed not to abandon its right to pursue peaceful nuclear activities to generate energy to meet its electricity needs.

In another development, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, fresh from a stunning win in the weekend election, said yesterday he hoped to normalize ties with North Korea by September next year when he leaves office.

"I cannot promise to sort it out by September, but I need to make efforts to shift the anomalous relationship between Japan and North Korea to normal ties as quickly as possible," he told a post-election news conference.

"The two countries should make sincere efforts for normalization," Koizumi said, adding that Japan will closely watch the development of six-party talks resuming today in Beijing.

(China Daily September 13, 2005)