The academic conference on northeast Asian security with participants from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) concluded on Friday on an optimistic note that the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue will be resumed.

The conference, which was held on Thursday and Friday, was co-hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) and the DPRK Institute of Disarmament and Peace.

Participants at the symposium included Ri Gun, director-general from the DPRK Foreign Ministry and negotiator on the nuclear issue, Joseph Detrani, the US State Department's special envoy for the six-way talks, Jim Foster, director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, George D. Schwab, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and officials from China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

The officials discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula during the meeting, which, according to a press release at the end of the meeting, was the third such conference co-hosted by the two organizations.

In the press release, participants said the purpose for organizing these dialogues is "to foster mutual understanding among the parties to the official six-party talks."

Conference participants agreed that discussions were frank and constructive and they are optimistic that the DPRK will return to the six-party talks.

By June last year, three rounds of the six-party talks, which involved the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, had been held. The talks have since then been stalled as the DPRK accused the United States of adopting a hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

To revive the talks, officials from the United States and the DPRK held negotiations last November, December and this May respectively.

Source: Xinhua