Top US negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming talks on Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

 

Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State, is scheduled to participate in talks of two working groups on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the peace and security of northeast Asia before the sixth round of six-party talks which is to start on March 19, a US embassy spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

 

China suggested that working group meetings should be held before the opening of the next round of talks and proposed the working group meeting on denuclearization to be held on March 17, according to Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

 

During the last round of talks which ended on February 13, the six parties reached consensus on the initial steps to implement the joint statement.

 

Hill's arrival coincides with a visit by Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed El Baradei to North Korea.

 

Baradei will depart for Pyongyang on Tuesday from Beijing and he will meet with North Korean officials for discussions on how to implement the agreement on dismantling the nuclear facilities in North Korea.

 

He is due to come back to Beijing after his one-day trip to North Korea.

 

"It was likely that El Baradei and Hill would have a meeting in Beijing although no official schedule had been set yet," US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)