The fourth round of six-party talks entered their sixth day yesterday as negotiators tried to thrash out the text of a joint document. 

Chief delegates from Beijing, Pyongyang, Washington, Seoul, Moscow and Tokyo left it to their deputies to continue discussions over the drafting of a joint document yesterday afternoon following working level consultations in the morning.

South Korean chief delegate Song Min-soon said all parties had come to the consensus that a strong framework should be set up with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

He told a press conference that the nations have not yet discussed the exact wording of a final text, but during yesterday's five-hour session heard opinions on China's proposals for a joint document.

Song said he did not know when talks would end, adding that all participating parties would reach an agreement that represented the core aim of the talks.

He said the joint document would consult a 1992 inter-Korean pledge to make the peninsula nuclear-free, according to Xinhua.

Under the 1992 denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South and North Korea pledged not to test, produce, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons.

The heads of the six delegations agreed on Saturday morning that a joint document would be issued to record the results of this round of talks.

They had spent Saturday afternoon reviewing a draft statement put forward by China, host of the talks.

The draft joint document reportedly outlines broad principles regarding Pyongyang's dismantling of its nuclear programs, security guarantees for Pyongyang from participating countries, economic assistance and normalization of diplomatic relations.

The US delegation described the draft as representing "a good basis for further negotiations and further discussion."

Diplomats said progress at the talks would be slow, with US chief negotiator Christopher Hill telling reporters on Saturday that it was hard to tell when a final text would be produced. "We know it takes time," he said.

(China Daily August 1, 2005)