¡¡BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The fourth round of the six-party talks, originally scheduled for last September, opened here Tuesday. According to previous reports and speeches made by each side at the opening session, stances of all six parties on the nuclear issue are as follows:

    The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

    -- The US should respect the DPRK's sovereignty and normalize political and economic relations with it, by delabelling DPRK as "a supporter of terrorism," lifting sanctions against it and maintaining peaceful coexistence with it on a legal basis.

    -- The US should offer a "definite assurance" of non-aggressionagainst the DPRK and not to disturb the DPRK's economic cooperation with other countries.

    -- The US unilateral demand that the DPRK abandon nuclear programme will never be accepted. The United States should approach the fourth round of the six-party talks with a sincere and sound stance.

    -- It is the DPRK's persistent attitude to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and consultation. Not a single nuclear weapon for self-defense will beneeded if the US nuclear threat is removed and its hostile policy of "bringing down the DPRK's system" is withdrawn.

    -- 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 DPRK delegation promises that it has got ready for that goal.

    -- Opposed to Japan to put forward other issues concerned with human rights, abduction and missile during the talks.

    The United States

    -- Recognizes that the DPRK is sovereign, has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK, and is willing to have direct talks with the DPRK within the framework of the six-party talks.

    -- The DPRK should make a strategic decision to abandon its nuclear programme.

    -- The United States will repeat its proposal raised in the last round of talks. In the proposal, the DPRK would be given a three-month preparatory period to provide a full listing of its nuclear activities, disable some dangerous materials and allow monitoring. The proposal also set ways to solve the security concerns of the DPRK, and under the proposal, issues like lifting sanctions against the DPRK and dealing with its energy needs wouldbe covered.

    -- Nuclear weapons will not make the DPRK safer. If the DPRK makes the decision to give up all its nuclear programs, the other five parties will make relevant responses in the principle of word-to-word and action-to-action. The parties concerned are well-prepared to settle DPRK's security concern and its energy needs.