The new round of six-party nuclear talks are of "much greater importance" compared with the previous three rounds, and are likely to produce a joint document, some veteran reporters said Wednesday.  

The talks, involving China, the US, Russia, Japan, South and North Korea opened at 9:00 AM Tuesday at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, attracting more than 500 reporters from home and abroad.

A number of reporters covered the previous three rounds of talks and witnessed the unremitting efforts of the parties concerned.

Hisashi Hirai, a reporter with Japan's Kyodo News Service, said the current round of talks is of "great significance." If it fails to make substantial progress, the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue will possibly be submitted to the UN. Moreover, countries may doubt the efficiency of the six-party talks mechanism, he said.

"The most serious difficulty for the talks is that the parties concerned stick to different definitions of denuclearization," Hirai said.

He held that the talks will last about one week in the first phase. Then an adjournment is needed for all parties to coordinate their respective stances before they gather again to produce specific results.

He said the current round of talks is likely to result in a joint document.

Kyodo News Service sent a total of 23 reporters to Beijing to cover the talks, including those from its bureaus in Washington, Moscow, Beijing and Seoul. Hirai said it reveals how important the talks are.

Ihn Kyo-joon, a reporter with South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, also covered the previous rounds of six-party talks. He said the new round of talks has a "more clear framework" compared with the former ones.

China, as the host country, is now more skilled and efficient in arranging the negotiations, he said.

He said people in his country are closely following the talks. He and his colleagues can only sleep for merely five hours per day and have to produce a large amount of Korean and English stories everyday.

Gennady Krivosheev, a reporter with Russia's Interfax News Agency, said the parties concerned have made "specific and constructive" proposals this time and expressed their genuine willingness to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

"The atmosphere is much better than in previous rounds," he said.

Krivosheev said concrete progress can be expected if a principle is set for settling the issue or making plans for further steps during the talks.

"The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is very complicated. A complete settlement of the issue requires joint efforts from all the parties." He believes there will be many rounds of six-party talks before the issue is finally resolved.

Guo Liang, a reporter with China National Radio, said the US and North Korea held very positive attitude in the new round of talks, which shows both countries want to completely resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Joe McDonald, a reporter with the Associate Press of the US, was more cautious.

He said, "Although the parties concerned made different declarations at the fourth round of six-party talks, it seems the talks have not made any headway yet."

"We sincerely hope the talks can result in substantial progress and that we can finish our task at an early date," South Korea's Ihn said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2005)