China yesterday appealed to all parties to make substantial progress at the upcoming six-party nuclear disarmament talks, to be held in Beijing next week.

"We hope all the participating parties will continue to show their flexibility and sincerity with a constructive attitude to push forward the talks to a final peaceful solution to the nuclear issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

Kong said China is expecting the new round of Six-Party Talks to proceed smoothly and achieve progress, a common aspiration of all the concerned parties as well as the international community.

Kong could not guarantee any agreement would be reached but pledged that China would take a serious and responsible attitude to the discussions and work closely with all sides to make substantial progress.

The new round of talks will begin at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing next Tuesday, the same venue as for the previous three rounds.

Representatives from China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan are expected to gather for the first time in 13 months after Pyongyang called off a boycott of the talks earlier this month.

However, it has been reported that the DPRK said it expects little progress at the revived talks, criticizing Japan and the United States for raising the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang and alleged human rights abuses.

With the first summit held in August 2003, three rounds of Six-Party Talks have failed to make any breakthrough.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong didn't confirm when the talks would finish.

According to Kong, the Chinese delegation will be led by Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei. The DPRK delegation will be headed by Vice- Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon will lead the ROK delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will be chief representative for the US, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev will front his country's negotiators, while the Japanese delegation will be led by Sasae Kenichiro, director-general of the Asia and Oceania Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.