China will work closely with the other parties of the six-party talks for smooth progress and substantial achievement of the upcoming new round of talks, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Spokesman Kong Quan told Xinhua that as a member of the six-party talks and the host nation, China will take a "serious and responsible attitude" and work closely with the other parties in the talks concerning the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.

"We hope the new round of talks would proceed smoothly and achieve progress, and this is also the common aspiration of all the parties concerned and the international community," Kong said.

As for whether the six parties could reach agreement on a certain form of written document, the spokesman said, it will be decided after the talks begin.

"We hope all the participating parties would take a constructive attitude, show flexibility and sincerity, and work together with unremitting efforts to achieve positive progress of the talks and the final peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue," Kong said.

The new round of talks, which involves China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, will begin at 9:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) Tuesday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the venue for the previous three rounds.

Kong said the duration of the talks is not certain. "We respect the will of all the participating parties. We are still discussing with them on the detailed agenda of the talks," he said.

According to Kong, the head of the Chinese delegation will be Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, and the head of the DPRK delegation is Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

The ROK delegation will be headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, the US delegation by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the Russian delegation by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev, and the Japanese delegation by Sasae Kenichiro, director general of the Asia and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The fourth round of six-party talks, which was originally scheduled to be held last September, has been postponed due to the mistrust between the the United States and the DPRK, as well as the US general election. Dialogues for peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue have since seen twists and turns.

The resumption of the talks has rekindled hope for a breakthrough to the nuclear dismantlement deadlock.

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that the United States is committed to solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue in a diplomatic way. The ROK promised to play an active role in the new round of talks and closely cooperate with the other participants to seek for substantial progress.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday also welcomed the DPRK's decision to return to the negotiating table and said it hopes the upcoming meeting in Beijing will bring "visible progress."

The DPRK said Wednesday the talks should substantially contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula though it vowed not to deal with Japan in the six-party talks due to Japan's unjust stance over the talks and the "abduction issue."

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue started in the 1990s. From 2003 to 2004, the six countries held three rounds of talks in Beijing, but no substantial progress was made.

Source: Xinhua