Just two days before the new round six-party nuclear talks aiming at solving the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States and Japan kicked off one-day consultation over their joint positions in the multilateral talks in Seoul Monday.  

"Today's consultation will be the final one (before the second round six-party talks) to have a better resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue," ROK Deputy Minister Lee Soo-hyuck was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying at the beginning of the trilateral meeting.

"I hope that this consultation will bring fruitful results for the preparation of the second round of talks," Lee said.

Lee's counterparts at the gathering were US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Asia and Oceania Department of Japan's Foreign Ministry.

Kelly said it is "very appropriate that our efforts begin right here" in Seoul, because "this is after all an issue about the Korean Peninsula, about the Korean people and about the future prosperity of an important part of the Korean Peninsula."

Yabunaka said the three countries are "in the same boat" and that he hopes it will "sail to a good destination."

The second session of six-nation discussions, which will also bring together China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, the ROK and Japan, will begin in Beijing on Wednesday to resolve a 16-month long standoff over the DPRK's nuclear arms program. The first round was held in Beijing in last August.

After Monday's consultation, the US and Japanese delegations are scheduled to depart for Beijing later in the day. The ROK delegation will leave Tuesday morning.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2004)