Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's top negotiator in the six-party talks, which aims to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, arrived in Beijing Sunday evening.

Kenichiro Sasae, head of Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, is scheduled to meet his Chinese and U.S. counterparts to discuss the nuclear issue, Kyodo quoted a Japanese government official as saying.

The six-party talks, focusing on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, group China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States, Japan and Russia.

The multilateral negotiations broke down in November last year triggered by U.S. financial sanctions aimed at the DPRK's alleged money laundering and counterfeiting.

The DPRK stunned the world on Oct. 9 this year by conducting its first underground nuclear test, prompting international condemnation, but it agreed last month to rejoin the nuclear disarmament talks but no fixed date has been set yet.

The DPRK's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, the country's chief delegate to the six-way talks, may also visit Beijing, but the possibility of bilateral talks of Japan and the DPRK on this occasion remained slim, Kyodo said.

During his stay, Sasae is also scheduled to meet with Hu Zhengyue, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, according to the Japanese official.

Source: Xinhua