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BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- With the arrival of
the US delegation in Beijing, all negotiators to the fifth round of six-party
talks converged here Tuesday for a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsula
nuclear issue.
The delegation of the Republic of Korea (ROK) arrived here Monday, and other delegations, including the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Russia, Japan and the United States arrived
here successively on Tuesday.
US chief negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters upon his
arrival in Beijing that the first step in the way ahead is to look at the
issue of the denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula and begin to see how the
agreements and the principles can be put into practices.
ROK chief negotiator Song Min-soon said in Beijing
Monday afternoon that the upcoming fifth round of the six-party talks will lay
the groundwork for carrying out the first joint statement reached during the
fourth round of the talks.
"There will be intensive consultations in this round
of the six-party talks," Song told Xinhua. He and his delegates were the first
to arrive in Beijing for the talks, scheduled for Nov. 9.
Aiming at resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula, China hosted four rounds of six-party talks with the latest one
adopting the first joint statement in September this year.
The DPRK pledged in the statement to abandon all
nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and return, at an early date,to
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for energy
aid and security guarantees.
The fifth round of the six-party talks is expected to
discuss how to follow through on the statement.
Kim Gye-gwan, head of the DPRK delegation to the six-party
talks, said at Pyongyang's Sun-an Airport before departure to Beijing earlier
Tuesday morning that his country is willing to make sincere efforts to fulfil
the joint statement at the upcoming fifth-round talks.
"The DPRK cherishes the joint statement formed in the previous
round. We are willing to make sincere efforts at this round of the talks
to fulfil the spirit of the joint statement," he said.
The DPRK delegation head said the talks have already
had a clear direction, which guides the six parties all the way forward like a
lighthouse.
"But the lighthouse is too far away from the DPRK and
becomes less visible sometimes as the sea is always full of fogs," Kim said.
However, he said, all the parties involved could pool
their wisdom and work together for further progress.
Russia's chief negotiator Alexander Alexeyev said
Tuesday upon arrival in Beijing that Russia will cooperate with the DPRK in a
bid to make substantial result in the new round of the six-party talks.
Sasae Kenichiro, head of the Japanese delegation,
said here Tuesday that Japan is particularly interested in the implementation of
the agreement already reached by all sides, especially the process of
denuclearization.
Japan will also express its views on future actions
in the talks, he noted.
The fifth round of six-party talks will open on Nov.
9 and is expected to last for three days as the first phase. Chinese foreign
ministry spokesman Kong Quan said earlier that "holding the talks by phases in
the new round could have a better result," as the chief negotiators of some
parties might also attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit slated
for mid-November in Pusan, ROK. Enditem |