South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon will attend the new round of six-party talks on nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula which will start on July 26 in Beijing, said South Korean Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon will lead South Korean delegation to the talks, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement announcing the reopening of the talks.

Almost at the same time on Tuesday, China's Foreign Ministry announced the fourth round of the six-party nuclear talks will be reopened on July 26 in Beijing.

"Our government appreciates again the efforts that the involving countries have made to reopen the six-party talks. We will play a positive and active role in the upcoming six-party talks so that substantial progress can be made for resolving the North Korean (DPRK) nuclear issue," the spokesman said in a statement.

On July 9, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed to return to the talks in the last week of July.

In order to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue, China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan have held three rounds of talks since 2003.

The first six-party talks were launched on Aug. 27, 2003 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in downtown Beijing.

But after the third round of the talks, the DPRK decided to suspend participation, claiming the US' policy of hostility.

Source: Xinhua