Kim Kye-gwan, top negotiator of North Korea to the six-party nuclear talks, met with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing yesterday.

 

Wu confirmed the meeting when he talked with Internet users on the Xinhuanet.com website.

 

According to Wu, also vice foreign minister, Kim briefed the Chinese side about his meeting with his US counterpart Christopher Hill in New York early this week.

 

China hopes the upcoming new round of six-party talks will produce more progress, and all relevant sides will make constructive efforts in this regard, Wu noted.

 

Five rounds of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue have been held since 2003. The new round of talks is due to begin on March 19 in Beijing.

 

China has proposed a working group meeting on denuclearization be held on March 17, and is waiting for responses from the other five sides, according to Wu.

 

He suggested that before the opening of the sixth round of talks, three working groups meet on March 17 or 18. The other two working groups' meetings will be arranged by Russia and South Korea respectively in accordance with the agreement reached by the six parties.

 

The six parties, namely China, the US, Russia, Japan, North and South Korea, adopted a joint statement on September 19, 2005, and reached consensus during the last round of talks on the initial steps to implement the statement.

 

The steps include establishing five working groups on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the normalization of North Korea ties with the US and Japan, economic and energy cooperation, and a Northeast Asia peace and security mechanism.

 

For the venue of the working groups' meetings, Wu said it is up to the organizers to decide. He also said more multilateral consultations are needed to ensure the progress of the new round of talks.

 

During the talks last month, the five parties agreed to provide North Korea with economic, energy and humanitarian aid equivalent to 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil in the near future.

 

China, South Korea, the US and Russia are the first countries participating in the provision of aid.

 

"We hope, and also believe, that Japan could actively participate in the relevant process," Wu said, calling on the parties concerned to get over difficulties in bilateral ties and make constructive contribution to realizing the overall goal of the six-party talks.

 

Wu reaffirmed China's readiness to carry out its obligations on the issue.

 

"As one of the six parties to the talks, China has undertaken relevant duties and obligations, and we will earnestly implement them," he said.

 

Invited by North Korea, IAEA Director-General Mohamed El Baradei will visit the country on March 13. "We believe it is an important step taken by North Korea and the IAEA to improve their ties," Wu said.

 

China hopes the visit can help realize the initial actions, he added.

 

"Due to various factors including historical ones, a serious lack of trust between relevant countries has been the biggest problem for the six-party talks, making the negotiations difficult to take every step forward," Wu pointed out.

 

He said China hopes that relevant countries can increase contacts and build up mutual trust via the platform of the six-party talks. "Once there is mutual trust, any big problems can be easily solved," he said.

 

"Due to their different national conditions, histories, cultural traditions and economic and social development levels, the six countries each have their own concerns in the talks," Wu said.

 

China has been striving to help identify the junctures where the interests of the six parties meet, he noted. On this basis the relevant parties will take concrete actions to carry out relevant commitments and enhance mutual trust to lay a more solid foundation for expansion of common interests and realize lasting peace in Northeast Asia.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2007)