MOSCOW, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Both China and Russia favor a soonest
possible holding of the second round of six-party talks on the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, the Chinese embassy
here said Monday.
Chinese Ambassador Ning Fukui, who is in charge of the DPRK issue,
and Russian Foreign Ministry First Asian Department director Yevgeny
Afanasyev met here Monday to discuss the preparation work for the second
round of the multilateral talks.
Both officials noted that Beijing and Moscow share very close
positions on Pyongyang's nuclear issue and are willing to get prepared for
the significant second round of negotiations. The two sides expressed
their hope to jointly push forward the multilateral negotiation process so
that the second round would beheld early this year.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, who has hosted
the two officials, said earlier Monday that the final date for the second
round talks has not been set yet because "mistrust and excessive demands
on each other" by Washington and Pyongyang hindered participants from
coordinating the final document.
The deputy minister did not rule out that the expected second round
would be held in January, but the chance is slim.
The first round of negotiations on the DPRK's nuclear issue was held
in Beijing last August with the participation of representatives from the
DPRK, South Korea, Russia, China, the United States and Japan. Diplomatic
efforts are underway to decide the date for the next round of such
talks.