Almost all delegations to the fourth round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue expressed their wish for positive, substantive progress in the consultations that reopened in Beijing Tuesday morning.  

At the opening ceremony of the talks, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing urged all of the six-way negotiators to show flexibility and take a pragmatic attitude to seek "positive progress" in the ongoing talks.

 

Li said that realizing the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula and maintaining long-term regional peace and stability are in the interests of all parties and that "adhering to the process of peaceful dialogues is the sole correct choice."

 

"The six-party talks are a realistic and effective way to solve disputes," he said.

 

Li hoped all the participants would improve consultation based on the foundation laid during the former three rounds of talks and enhance mutual understanding with an attitude of seeking common ground while reserving differences.

 

Noting that differences remained among the negotiators, he said, "The talks will probably encounter various difficulties."

 

But Li also believed that through a step-by-step process, the solution will be achieved eventually.

 

At the opening session, Kim Kye-gwan, who heads the North Korean delegation, said that the most important thing was to achieve substantive progress in denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

 

Kim, also North Korean vice foreign minister, said, "It needs political will and strategic resolution of all the parties concerned to wipe out all the threats of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula and to realize a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula."

 

"The North Korean delegation promises that it has got ready for that," said Kim, adding that he believed that the US and other delegations had also been ready for the goal.

 

The US regards the sovereignty of North Korea as a matter of fact and says it has no intention of dispatching troops to or attack the nation, Christopher Hill, head of the US delegation and US assistant secretary of state, said at the opening ceremony.

 

Japan would contribute positively to possible substantial progress in the talks, Sasae Kenichiro, head of the Japanese delegation and director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, said at the opening ceremony.

 

He urged North Korea to abandon all of its nuclear programs, adding that the abandonment, together with the settlement of missile and abduction issues, were the preconditions for Japan to normalize its relationship with North Korea.

 

South Korea pledged to provide the North with 2 million kilowatt-hour of electricity annually once the North gives up its nuclear program, according to Song Min-soon, head of the South Korean delegation and deputy foreign minister.

 

He urged that the six-nation talks should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

 

Russia adheres to a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula, Alexander Alexeyev, head of the Russian delegation and deputy foreign minister, said at the opening ceremony.

 

The package solution to the issue Russia advanced has not gone out-of-date yet and Russia could revise it if necessary, he added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)