South Korean chief negotiator to the six-party talks Chun
Yung-woo said in Beijing on Thursday the talks will extend to
Friday morning.
Chun told reporters at South Korea's press center for the talks
that China is preparing a draft chairman's statement and the
meetings will extend to Friday morning.
He said Thursday's heads of delegation meeting began at 10:00
AM. Prior to the meeting, South Korea and Chinese top negotiators
had a consultation, and in the afternoon, several bilateral
meetings were held.
"Thursday's meeting has more practical atmosphere compared with
the previous day, which mainly discussed the details of the plan of
complete disablement of nuclear facilities in North Korea," said
Chun, adding the six parties made their proposals frankly.
He said there had been a lot of discussions on setting a
timetable for the disablement during the two days' meeting, but
given the complexity of the problem, it was hard for the meeting to
reach an agreement on it.
Another senior South Korean official told the press Thursday
three working groups' meetings may be held in August, including the
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the Economy and Energy
Cooperation and the Northeast Asia Peace and Security Mechanism
working groups.
(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2007)
