"It is still too early to predict the outcome of the six-party talks, but I hope the participating countries will work with patience and sincere efforts to overcome current conditions to help achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia," Lee said at a meeting here.

"I believe we will be able to fundamentally resolve the nuclear issue and establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, which in turn, as President Roh Moo-hyun once said, would help establish peace in the Northeast Asian region and the world," he added.

Lee spoke highly of the efforts taken so far by the international community to help resolve the nuclear dispute, stress that it was important now to "build trust" among the parties concerned and implement previous agreements and pledges.

The future and peace of the Northeast Asian region as well as the world depended on the outcome of the talks, he said.

Negotiators from China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan launched the second phase of the fifth round of the six-party talks in Beijing on Monday. Multi-lateral and bilateral contacts have been conducted among the six parties.