Host nation China, the US, the DPRK, South Korea and Japan will kick off their meeting on the North Korea nuclear issue Wednesday.

The Russian delegation was the first foreign delegation to arrive in Beijing.

Chinese and Russian officials Monday in Beijing urged all six parties to the talks to show flexibility and sincerity and avoid confrontations when discussing concrete problems.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Alexander Losiukov, also heads of the Chinese and Russian delegations, made this appeal during their consultation on the impending talks.

China also met with the United States ahead of the talks, said a source with the Foreign Ministry press office Tuesday morning.

The closed-door meeting was presided over by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, to coordinate efforts in the six-party talks.

Also on Tuesday, the Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losiukov held talks with the Japanese delegation headed by Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. They met in the Russian embassy in China, said a source.

The South Korean delegation to the nuclear talks, which are geared to finding a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), headed for Beijing on Tuesday morning.

The South Korean delegation's departure came one day after Seoul, Washington and Tokyo held consultations on joint strategies for the talks in Beijing.

The three countries agreed to attend the new round of talks with great patience and try to bring them to a conclusion with concrete progress.

China had a meeting scheduled with the North Korean representatives at 11:00 AM Tuesday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

The DPRK delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, had just arrived in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2004)