The working group on peace and security in Northeast Asia held its first meeting Friday morning in Beijing, with officials from all the six parties attending.

The meeting, headed by the Russian delegation, involved officials from China, the US, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea.

Chinese officials have recommended that three working group discussions should be held ahead of the next round of six-party talks scheduled to start on March 19.

The six parties started a working group meeting on economic and energy cooperation Thursday afternoon in Beijing to discuss the need to assist North Korea and other parties' proposals for assistance.

The working group on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will start its first meeting Saturday morning.

During the last round of talks, the six parties reached consensus on the initial steps to implement the September 19 joint statement, which outlined plans for establishing five working groups to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, normalization of North Korea ties with the US and Japan, economic and energy resources cooperation, and peace and security in Northeast Asia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)