US chief negotiator Christopher Hill arrived in Beijing on
Sunday ahead of talks with Chinese officials on resuming the
six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue at an early
date.
According to the US embassy in Beijing, Hill will meet his
Chinese counterpart, Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, later in the
afternoon, briefing Wu about his Berlin talks with senior
DPRK? negotiator, Kim Kye-Gwan.
"I will ask him about his thoughts on when we can schedule the
next round of six-party talks, because we'd like to do that as soon
as possible," Hill told reporters upon arrival at the Beijing
airport.
Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed Wu would meet with the US
Assistant Secretary of State in the evening but provided no further
details.
Prior to his arrival in the Chinese capital, Hill visited Seoul
and Tokyo, exchanging views with his respective counterparts
there.
Hill told officials in Tokyo that the United States and the DPRK
agreed to restart talks at the earliest possible date and strive
for concrete progress.
The United States and the DPRK held unique one-on-one talks in
Berlin from Tuesday to Thursday last week. Hill described in Seoul
his meeting with Kim Kye Gwan in Berlin as "very useful."
The six-party talks involve China, the DPRK, the Republic of
Korea (ROK), the United States, Japan and Russia, with the first
round held in 2003. At the latest round of talks held in late
December in Beijing, the parties failed to make major progress but
agreed to have another session.
(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2007)
