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Bilateral meetings pave way for new six-party talks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-10 00:18

BEIJING  -- The parties involved in the Korean Peninsula nuclear talks held intense bilateral meetings here to pave the way for the discussions between chief negotiators, which are scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Related readings:  US urged to take substantial action for six-party talks  Heads of six-party talks to meet for new round of discussion  DPRK submits declaration to chair of six-party talks

Kim Sook, chief negotiator of the Republic of Korea (ROK) delegation, met with his US counterpart Christopher Hill and Chinese chief delegate Wu Dawei on Wednesday.

After the bilateral meetings, Kim told reporters that he felt neither "optimistic" nor "pessimistic" about the six-party talks, and each party needed to cool down and detail the relevant issues.

Hill, after meeting with the ROK side, said they touched upon issues including the verification process for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) denuclearization, fuel aid to the country, food shipments and other issues.

Hill said he is scheduled to have a breakfast meeting on Thursday with Russian chief delegate Alexei Borodavkin, after which there will be a trilateral meeting of China, the United States and Russia, with the aim of fully preparing for the six-party talks in the afternoon.

Hill met with the DPRK delegation soon after he arrived in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon, saying that denuclearization verification, including documents, site visits and interviews, would be a focal point in the upcoming meeting.

Under an agreement reached in October, the DPRK agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs and declare all its nuclear programs and facilities by the end of 2007, in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives.

The DPRK submitted its nuclear declaration to China on June 26 and demolished the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor on June 27, though it missed the deadline.