South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he expects a new round of six-party talks on nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)to take place by the end of this month as planned.

"The third six-party talks are expected to be held before the end of this month as agreed," Ban said during a speech at an international conference organized by the Asia-Europe Foundation.

The six nations, China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan, agreed in the second round of six-way talksin this February to convene the third round of such talks before June.

And in the first working group meeting in this May under the framework of the six-party talks, the concerning countries reaffirmed their mind to hold the new round multilateral nuclear talks as planned.

The South Korean foreign minister also said the six countries share a will to resolve the standoff peacefully, but more patienceand more dialogue are needed to achieve that goal.

First round of six-party talks were held in August, 2003 in Beijing.

Source: Xinhua