The third round of six-party talks has witnessed progress after three days of consultation with the positive comments from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on each other's plan for solving the nuclear issue.

Heads of delegations to the six-party talks on Korean peninsular nuclear issue said in Beijing Friday that the talks have gained positive momentum and they are ready for further rounds of talks in the future.

DPRK spokesman Hyun Hak-bong said that the DPRK maintains that nuclear freezing means no more production, transfer or test of the nuclear weapons, and the targets of the nuclear freezing includes all equipment related to nuclear weapons and all materials distilled after processing.

The DPRK will not only freeze, but also dismantle these nuclear equipment under mature condition, he said, noting that the DPRK needs a great political courage to put forward such a nuclear freezing proposal.

The DPRK will show flexibility over the issues such as the requirements to remove the DPRK from the list of supporting terrorism countries and to eliminate sanctions and blockage towards the DPRK if the United States and other countries practically participate in providing energy aid to the DPRK, Hyun said.

The US delegation said the US side expects further talks although "no breakthrough" has been achieved in this round. A senior official with the US delegation said some follow-up work has been discussed on Friday in bilateral and multilateral meetings, concerning the next round of talks and the responsibility of the working groups.

"We might have one back quite soon to have our working group working," said the official.

The US and DPRK sides have reacted positively to each other's proposals. DPRK described the US plan as "constructive" while the US side said the DPRK proposal is "more specific" than the one raised in the previous round of the talks.

The DPRK delegation has made it clear in its proposal to freeze its nuclear program for compensation, and they also has made it clear that this is the first step on the path to nuclear dismantlement, said the US official, adding "that's very positive indeed".

In the first day of this round of six-party talks, the US delegation offered a seven-page proposal, which includes a three-month preparatory period for the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear programs, during which the DPRK would freeze work on its nuclear programs, submit a list of all nuclear activities.

The US proposal also promised conditional energy aid and security guarantee to the DPRK if its nuclear programs are dismantled.

Sources said that in the closed-door consultations held Friday among delegation heads, political consensus was achieved to welcome the starting of nuclear freezing, as the first step of nuclear dismantlement, as soon as possible while relevant measures are adopted as well.

The delegations have expressed readiness to continue work under the current six-party-talk framework for the final solution to the problem.

The talks, involving China, the DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Russia and Japan, will be closed as scheduled on Saturday. Chinese delegation member Zhang Qiyue said there would be no closing ceremony since "the talks have become mechanized", and "there is no need to have opening and closing ceremonies for every round of the talks". But she noted that the consensus reached in this round of talks should be recorded in written form.

"The chance for peace has appeared, and it is most important for all parties to fully demonstrate their political will with a flexible and pragmatic attitude," said Chinese delegation head Wang Yi.

"Then we would overcome the difficulties and blaze a trail for solution to the nuclear issue," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2004)