Press center for six-party talks starts operation in Beijing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-25 15:25

The press center for the fourth round of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue was put into use at 8:30 Monday morning to serve the more than 500 journalists both at home and from abroad.

Given a closed-door arrangement, the upcoming six-party talks will have all information concerned released at the press center.

The press center is located adjacent to the venue of the six-party talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, as the same as it was during the former two rounds of the six-nation talks. The center will be open to the journalists from 8:30 a.m to 9:00 p.m. every day.

Covering a floor space of more than 100 square meters, the press center is equipped with seven desktop computers hooked up to Internet free of charge and another two designated for the journalists to dispatch news stories. In addition, four wires for broadband Internet surfing are now available for reporters with notebook computers. Other office automation equipment includes telephones, printers, duplicating machines and fax machines.

In the press center there is also a 48-inch color TV set for most of the journalists, who will not be allowed access to the talks venue, to watch TV live broadcasting. Just opposite to the door of the press center, two billboards have been established for posting daily agenda of the six-party talks in both English and Chinese and bilingual name lists of the delegations and the phone numbers of their offices.

Press cards issued to overseas journalists upon the ratification of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs are divided into two categories, one in orange and the other in dark blue. The former will be used for regular news coverage by overseas reporters, and the latter, for a small group of 20 overseas journalists who will get access to the talks venue.

The new round of the six-party talks scheduled to open on Tuesday morning has aroused great concern among media both at home and abroad. According to the foreign ministry, more than 200 foreign journalists have enrolled to report on the event, including 93 from Japan, 81 from the Republic of Korea (ROK), 14 from the United States and 9 from Russia.

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