Japanese top negotiator: six parties to advance joint document

The six parties to talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue would advance a joint document "some time in the future," Japanese top negotiator said Friday in Beijing.

"The negotiation has entered into a vital stage, and a joint document is expected some time in the future," said Sasae Kenichiroand, head of the Japanese delegation to the new round of the six-party talks.

According to him, the delegations of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held one-on-one consultations here Friday morning.

Chief negotiators of the six parties would meet Friday afternoon to discuss what had come out of the US-DPRK bilateral talks and how to further the six-party talks, he told reporters.

He did not confirm or deny whether there would be a Japanese-DPRK consultation.

Source: Xinhua