The working group on peace and security in Northeast Asia held
its first meeting Friday morning in Beijing, with officials from
all the six parties attending.
The meeting, headed by the Russian delegation, involved
officials from China, the US, Japan, Russia, North and South
Korea.
Chinese officials have recommended that three working group
discussions should be held ahead of the next round of six-party
talks scheduled to start on March 19.
The six parties started a working group meeting on economic and
energy cooperation Thursday afternoon in Beijing to discuss the
need to assist North Korea and other parties' proposals for
assistance.
The working group on the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula will start its first meeting Saturday morning.
During the last round of talks, the six parties reached
consensus on the initial steps to implement the September 19 joint
statement, which outlined plans for establishing five working
groups to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,
normalization of North Korea ties with the US and Japan, economic
and energy resources cooperation, and peace and security in
Northeast Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)
