PYONGYANG, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Vice Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korean (DPRK) Kim Kye-gwan and US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who are heads of their countries' delegations to the six-party talks, agreed Saturday to open the fourth round of the six-party talks in late July, 2005.

    "Both sides agreed to open the fourth round of the six-party talks in the week which begins on July 25, 2005," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

    Kim and Hill met in Beijing on July 9.

    According to the KCNA, the US side clarified its official stand to recognize the DPRK as a sovereign state and Washington promised not to invade the DPRK and to hold bilateral talks within the framework of the six-party talks.

    The DPRK side interpreted the U.S. side's expression of its stand as a retraction of its remark designating the former as an "outpost of tyranny" and decided to return to the six-party talks, the KCNA said.

    The six-party talks _ including China, DPRK, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States _ last met in June 2004. Since then, Pyongyang has refused to attend, citing "hostile" U.S. policies. Enditem