Delegations of South Korea and Japan agreed to cooperate in pushing the fourth round of six-party talks to achieve fruits, according to a member of the South Korean delegation Monday afternoon.  

The official, unwilling to reveal his name, said in a press briefing that the two delegations met for an hour from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

During their meeting, the South Korean side briefed the Japanese side on its meetings with North Korea and the US and the Japanese side also briefed its meeting with the US.

The South Korean side conveyed the stance of the North Korean side to Japan, that is, the North Korean side hopes the talks can focus on the nuclear issue to achieve concrete fruits, the official said.

He said during the meeting the Japanese side did not say it will discuss the "abduction issue" with North Korea in the talks.

He said the South Korean delegation will hold bilateral talks with China and Russia after the opening ceremony of the talks Tuesday morning.

The delegation will also arrange bilateral or multilateral meetings with other delegations according to the progress of the talks, he said.

The South Korean delegation met with the North Korean delegation Sunday morning and the US delegation Monday morning. The Japanese side met with the US delegation Monday morning.

The new round of the talks, which involves China, the US, Russia, Japan, South and North Korea, will begin at 9:00 AM Tuesday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

The fourth round of six-party talks, which was originally scheduled to be held last September, has been postponed due to various reasons.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue broke out in the 1990s. From 2003 to 2004, the six countries held three rounds of talks in Beijing, but no substantial progress was made.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2005)