United States top negotiator Christopher Hill arrives in Beijing, capital of China, yesterday. Hill was in Beijing for the second-phase meetings of the sixth-round six-party talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, to be started today. - Xinhua

Top negotiators to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue arrived in Beijing yesterday for a new round of discussions to be started today.

US envoy Christopher Hill arrived in Beijing yesterday evening and had a dinner with Kim Kye Gwan, top negotiator of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), who arrived in Beijing Tuesday morning.

"We discussed the general terms and aspirations for the six-party meeting," Hill told reporters after his meal with Kim Kye Gwan.

"Frankly, we had a good discussion of all issues. but we are going to follow it up with some detailed discussions tomorrow as part of the bilateral process," he said.

Hill said the US delegation would hold bilateral talks with Russian, the Republic of Korea and Chinese delegations today.

"I just believe we are well prepared for the meeting...we are looking forward to having the disablement and declaration (of the nuclear programs by the DPRK) by the end of the year. It is very ambitious process."

Before his arrival in Beijing, Hill paid a visit to Japan and met with his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae to the upcoming talks.

The top Japanese and US negotiators agreed to strengthen the two countries' cooperation in the upcoming plenary session of the six- party talks.

Sasae called on the US side to continue its support for resolution of the issue of the DPRK's past abductions of Japanese nationals.

Hill said his country fully understands the importance of the issue. He promised to help improve relations between Japan and the DPRK to create harmonious conditions for the six- party talks.

The two sides vowed to work together in the next phase of the talks to urge the DPRK to disable its nuclear facilities.

Delegations of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Russia also arrived in Beijing Wednesday. The Japanese delegation is expected to arrive in Beijing on Thursday.

"The core theme of this session is to make the DPRK declare all its nuclear programs and disable its nuclear facilities," chief ROK negotiator Chun Yung-woo told reporters upon his arrival in Beijing yesterday afternoon.

Russian top negotiator Alexander Losyukov, said he is "cautiously optimistic" about the upcoming second session of the sixth round of the six-party talks.

"There may erupt some problems and difficulties, but all the six parties will make joint efforts to address them," Losyukov told reporters upon his arrival.

The DPRK shut down and sealed the nuclear facilities at Nongbyon in July under an aid-for-denuclearization agreement reached in February this year.

According to agreements, the DPRK is required 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.

The four-day talks are expected to work out a road map for the implementation of the achieved consensus in previous meetings.