A delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) headed by Kim Gye-gwan, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, left Pyongyang for Beijing yesterday to attend a new round of the six-party talks.

It's reported that the DPRK and the United States are going to discuss disabling the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in DPRK during the talks, which are scheduled to last from tomorrow to Sunday.

The resumption of the talks was announced on Sept 21 by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

At the six-party talks on Feb. 13, the DPRK agreed to declare all of its nuclear programs and disable all existing nuclear facilities in exchange for a total of one million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid, with an initial shipment of 50,000 tons.

Top negotiators to the six party talks agreed in July to provide the DPRK with economic, energy and humanitarian assistance up to the equivalent of 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

The six-party talks, initiated in 2003, involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.