Delegations to the six-party talks will hold bilateral meetings at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Wednesday morning, the press center of the Chinese delegation said.

 

According to Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Jianchao, substantial discussions will start on Wednesday, the second day of the resumed fourth round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

 

Liu said the six parties will have discussions at various levels, including bilateral and multilateral consultations, chief negotiators' meetings, group meetings and working group consultations.

 

Liu also said the length of the talks is yet to be decided but it "will not last too long."

 

The forth-round six-party talks, involving China, North Korea, the US, South Korea, Russia and Japan, resumed Tuesday after a five-week recess.

 

During the chief negotiators' meeting on Tuesday afternoon, all parties agreed to hold chief negotiators meeting once every day, said chief negotiator of South Korea Song Min-soon Tuesday evening.

 

The current meeting of the talks will focus on the light-water reactor issue, Song said, adding that the previous phase of the talks touched on the issue but did not have in-depth discussion on it.

 

Song said that the talks will last at least till Friday, and then parties will determine the closing date according to progress of the talks.

 

During the first day of talks, the six delegations did not touch upon any substantial issues. However, all of them demonstrated strong desire for reaching a common document on the basis of the draft proposed by China in the talks held from July 26 to August 7.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005)