There was no substantive disagreement among the six parties regarding the following steps to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, US chief negotiator Christopher Hill said on Saturday.

 

"We don't really have any substantive disagreement among the parties...we are pretty satisfied that we know the direction we are heading...and what we are going to accomplish by the end of the year," Hill told reporters Saturday evening after attending the dinner meeting hosted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

 

"I think there will be some kind of statement. But I just don't know how much detail there will be in the statement," Hill said.

 

"After the dinner we had a short meeting," said Hill, adding that the Chinese side showed other parties its current progress on making the statement.

 

"I think there'll have to be some additional meetings, and then we will have to get on with some of the tasks that we've laid out," he said.

 

Details like what type of teams are going to fulfil the disablement and the sequence of the disabling actions were discussed in the meeting, Hill said.

 

As for the possibility of extending the stay in China, he said he is "definitely leaving tomorrow" as he has "other obligations back in states."

 

The second phase of the sixth round of the six-party talks, which involve China, the US, North and South Korea, Russia and Japan, started on Thursday and is scheduled to end on Sunday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2007)