The second session of the third round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue was held on Thursday in Beijing, according to the Foreign Ministry.

During the plenary session, China, Japan and Russia submitted proposals and discussed detailed plans with the other participants (North Korea, South Korea and the United States).

Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, head of the Chinese delegation, elaborated on China’s proposal for resolution of the Korean nuclear issue and its ideas on how to take the first active steps.

The third round of six-party talks has had a sound and stable start, Wang said, as all sides have reaffirmed the important consensus. He stated that that is the basis for moving forward.

“All sides raised detailed plans or proposals in the talks, which indicated the political willingness to make progress,” Wang said.

“Each side treated the others’ plans seriously and in a spirit of looking ahead, which represented mutual respect and equality,” he said.

Moving the talks forward is the common aspiration of the international community and in the interests of all parties concerned, said Wang. He reiterated that he hoped all sides would be flexible, expand consensus and narrow differences to move the talks toward solving substantial problems.

Also on Thursday, the participants held bilateral meetings, sources said. Reports that the US and North Korean delegations held a bilateral meeting on Thursday could not be officially confirmed.

Xinhua News Agency reported that it learned from a source on Thursday that Russian delegation head Alexander Alexeyev said that the third round of talks would not end without any result.

The source, on condition of anonymity, said that all parties have tabled their detailed proposals. “Discussions on these proposals were underway for seeking a common platform,” the source said.

According to Russia’s Interfax News Agency, the core of the Russian proposal is that the only path to denuclearization and the ultimate solution to the nuclear issue is to “move forward step by step to the final goal.”

Reports on the contents of the Russian proposal could not be confirmed with either the Russian delegation or the Russian Embassy in China.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2004)