Negotiators continued their discussion over the drafting of a
joint document Sunday afternoon following a working-level
consultation in the morning, according to the press center of the
Chinese delegation.
The fourth round of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula
nuclear issue has entered into the sixth day, and though no
concrete progress has been disclosed, all parties have agreed to
work out a joint document to sum up the developments.
Earlier Sunday, Saiki Akitaka, a member of the Japanese
delegation, said all the parties would spend Sunday working
together on the drafting of the joint document.
The heads of the six delegations to the talks agreed at their
meeting Saturday morning that a joint document would be issued to
record the results of this round of talks. The Chinese delegation
presented a draft at the meeting.
The US delegation, a major participants in the talks, described
the draft as representing "a good basis" for "future negotiations
and future discussions" and for "final document and final
agreement."
As for whether the joint document could come out Sunday,
Christopher Hill, US delegation head and US assistant secretary of
state, said, "We know it takes time."
Negotiators to the fourth round of the six-party talks were
still discussing over the drafting of a joint document by 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, said an official with the Chinese delegation.
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During the working-level consultations, the main task on Sunday's
agenda, the delegates had "serious discussions" over the drafting
of the joint document, he said.
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On Sunday, Song Min-soon, chief negotiator of the South Korea, said
it was hard to tell when the ongoing nuclear talks would conclude,
but all sides agreed to establish a framework for the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2005)