A car drives out of the Embassy of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Beijing on July 22. (Xinhua Photo)
File photo of Kim Kye-gwan, DPRK's vice
foreign minister and chief negotiator to the six-party talk .
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) delegation, the
first foreign delegation, arrived in Beijing Friday for the imminent fourth
round of the six-party talks on Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, a witness from
the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
The talks, involving China, the DPRK, the United States, the
Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan, are set to begin next Tuesday.
Other four foreign delegations will arrive here in the coming
days, according to sources.
The duration of the talks, due to be held at the Diaoyutai State
Guesthouse, the venue for the previous three rounds, is yet to be decided.
According to sources with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the head
of the Chinese delegation will be Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, and the head
of the DPRK delegation is Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.
The ROK delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Song
Min-soon, the US delegation by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill,
the Russian delegation by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev, and the
Japanese delegation by Sasae Kenichiro, director general of the Asia and
Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The six-party talks, aiming to peacefully resolve the nuclear
issue on the Korean Peninsula, had gathered delegates from the afore-mentioned
six countries three times in Beijing.
But the multilateral talks have been stalled since September last
year when the scheduled fourth round talks failed to be convened. Local
observers expect substantial results to come out of the new round of talks.