The ongoing fourth round of six-party talks is likely to extend into the weekend as the participants were showing a strong desire to make headway, South Korean chief negotiator Song Min-soo was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency as saying.  

The fourth round of six-party talks opened in Beijing Tuesday and is going on with no deadline set yet.

"More negotiations will be needed before we can say something about the prospects of the meeting," Yonhap quoted Song as saying yesterday.

"Negotiations are currently being made mostly through bilateral contacts," Song said.

The US and North Korea, the two major parties to the talks, held consultations yesterday morning for about three hours, longer than the previous two consultations since talks opened on Tuesday.

The two sides have carried out their fourth consultations this morning, but no immediate information is available.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2005)