Delegates to the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue wrapped up their ninth day of discussions on Wednesday night and agreed to continue the talks today.  

No ending date has been set so far for the record-long fourth-round negotiations, while the draft joint statement, which has been revised for three times, was yet to be accepted by all the parties.

"I have no good news, neither bad news nor frightening news to report," US chief negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters at the hotel gate yesterday evening after a lengthy bilateral consultation with the Chinese delegation.

Hill said the US side has no plan to hold more bilateral consultations with the North Korean delegation today.

Piao Jianyi, a professor with the Asian-Pacific Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the talks might end today if all parties concerned could be persuaded to accept the draft document.

Jin Linbo, head of the Asia-Pacific Office under the China Research Institute of International Studies, said the talks would possibly conclude or take a recess within this week.

Jin believed that the process depends on the attitude of the US and said that there is still time for the participants to seek a solution.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear talks, involving China, the US, Russia, Japan, North and South Korea, resumed on July 26 after a 13-month impasse.

Over the past nine days, the six parties have held frequent bilateral and multilateral consultations.

Japanese delegation head Kenichiro Sasae said yesterday afternoon that the six parties were still striving for reaching a consensus.

Sasae told reporters the six delegations to the ongoing talks continued to make revisions to and coordinate their stances on the latest draft of a common document during yesterday's negotiation, with China serving as the key coordinator.

A series of one-on-one contacts were made yesterday for the negotiators to exchange views on the latest draft common document, which is aimed at establishing a framework for future talks on the eventual settlement of the nuclear issue.

Earlier reports said a chief delegates' session, planned for yesterday afternoon, was canceled, which observers say may indicate the failure to make a "final comment" on the draft document.

Hill said yesterday morning that the latest draft document "narrowed differences" among all sides, and that an agreement could be possibly reached.

He said that the draft, presented by the Chinese delegation, was "really designed to narrow the differences and maybe even get to the point where we can really agree on something."

It should be the last version for the common document as the six delegations would make a "final comment" on the latest fourth draft yesterday, he said.

According to Hill, the negotiators "are really getting close to the end of this round" of the nuclear talks.

The North Korean delegation, in its first open statement on the current talks on Tuesday afternoon, admitted differences existed between it and the US.

North Korean delegation head Kim Kye-gwan said that his delegation had hours of consultations with the US delegation over past days.

"Though there are disagreements between the two, we wish to be able to minimize the differences and achieve a result in the talks," he said.

Kim, also vice foreign minister, reiterated his country's stance that Pyongyang's abandonment of its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs depends on whether the US removes its nuclear threat against the North and establishes mutual trust with Pyongyang.

The North Korean delegation remained silent yesterday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2005)