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Second round of Beijing six-party talks enters fourth day
The six-party talks are expected to conclude with a joint statement citing progress made on peacefully resolving the nuke issue.
Amid the impasse over how to denuclearise North Korea, the second round of the six-party talks on Saturday entered the fourth day and is expected to conclude with a joint statement citing "progress" made on peacefully resolving the sensitive issue.
The vice heads of six delegations started a meeting and a closing ceremony is scheduled later at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in central Beijing, the venue of the closed-door six-party talks.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the host of the second round of six-party talks involving China, the US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia, is scheduled to meet the press in the afternoon.
Despite intense negotiations, there has been no agreement so far on how to achieve Pyongyang's denuclearisation and rewards for the reclusive Stalinist state in case it agrees to Washington's demand for a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its weapons-oriented programmes.
The nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002 when US officials said North Korea had admitted to a covert programme to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has since denied saying any such thing.
Meanwhile, diplomats of the six countries were busy drafting a joint statement to be issued at the end of the meetings.
The document was said to contain an agreement on establishing a working group to handle technical and other matters related to the dispute as well as a rough schedule for the next meeting.
The second round of talks is running a day longer than the first round, which was held here from August 27-29, 2003, but ended inconclusively.
At a press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the consensus between the parties was expanded and difference was narrowed gradually.
According to Liu, North Korea proposed a comprehensive stop of nuclear activities at Thursday's plenary session, and all parties considered the proposal a necessary step for the realisation of dismantling of nuclear weapons programme in the Korean peninsula.
The status of the plan supported by South Korea, China and Russia to offer energy aid to North Korea in exchange for renouncing its nuclear programmes.
