BEIJING, CHINA: Chief negotiators of the two Koreas and the United States gathered in Beijing Tuesday (8 July) for preparatory meetings ahead of the nuclear talks that will resume on Thursday (10 July).

China, host of the nuclear negotiation, announced the official resumption date of the six-party talks Tuesday afternoon. The negotiation will be held at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

"The official schedule will begin from Thursday afternoon with the plenary session of the chief delegates of the six-party talks," South Korea's top envoy Kim Sook told reporters before heading to Beijing.

He explained this round of talks will focus on reviewing North Korea's nuclear programs' declaration and establishing a verification mechanism. It would also formally close the second denuclearization phase and start the third step of dismantling the nuclear materials and weapons in the North. The members, including the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, will also discuss organizing a ministerial meeting later in the month.

"I will tend to the discussion with each member so as to prepare the grounds to establish a bridgehead towards North Korea's ultimate abandonment of its nuclear programs," Kim said.

Before and during the plenary sessions, working group meetings on denuclearization and energy incentives will be held during the talks that are opening without an end date, as usual.

"Without thinking that we have infinite amount of time, we will try to reach the target by maximizing the efficiency," Kim added. Kim Kye-gwan of North Korea and Christopher Hill of the United States were also set to arrive in the Chinese capital Tuesday afternoon.

This round of talks is new ground for Kim as well as his Russian and Japanese counterparts.

Japan has named Akitaka Saiki, director-general of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, as its new chief negotiator. Russia has named new Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin for the post.

North Korea and the United States, the two pivotal players in the multilateral negotiation, were set to meet for bilateral talks yesterday. Their discussion is likely to set the tone and prospects of this round of talks, observers said.

As North Korea's much-coveted incentive for its denuclearization steps, the United States has commenced the process of removing Pyongyang from the list of states sponsoring terrorism. It takes 45 days upon the president's notification to the Congress. The final date is set on 11 Aug, by which Washington aims to complete the preparation of a "complete" verification mechanism of North Korea's nuclear programs.

"If North Korea gives hearty cooperation to establishing the verification structure, the six-party talks will be gaining the momentum needed to enter the nuclear dismantlement phase. But in the case of the opposite, the much-longed-for progress in the six-party talks can abruptly freeze," a diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity.

North Korea, for its part, has attempted to up its hand ahead of the talks last week by publicly expressing its dissatisfaction toward the energy aid by the other parties.

North Korea is currently receiving in bulk heavy fuel oil and other energy-related equipment from the United States, South Korea, China and Russia. Japan continues to stay out of the delivery citing the unresolved bilateral issues with the North.

Negotiators of the South, the United States and Japan, in the meantime, met on the sideline last month to coordinate their positions on the verification.

The three countries reportedly agree that a separate group must be established under the denuclearization working group to take charge of the verification.

Some observers, however, point out that it is possible for only the nuclear states - the United States, China and Russia - to end up in the group due to the sensitivity of exposing nuclear technology. It also remains to be seen whether the International Atomic Energy Agency will take part in the verification upon the request by the six parties. North Korea is reportedly hesitant toward letting in the IAEA, with which it had butted heads over the scope of the investigation during the first nuclear crisis in the early 1990s.

For complete verification, the United States and its allies believe that the North should allow any impromptu on-site visits, extraction of samples and interviews with North Korean scientists.

Some of the measures would require approval from North Korea's staunch military authorities. How to verify North Korea's covert uranium enrichment program and proliferation activities linked to Syria will even be a harder task, observers said.

North Korea has so far only acknowledged the existence of UEP and proliferation without offering direct evidence. Some say the members may choose to focus on how to monitor any future hints of clandestine activities, instead of focusing on digging up the past.

The members will also review the possibility of holding the six-way ministerial talks on the occasion of the ASEAN Regional Forum opening in Singapore next month. All six nations are invited to the event. (By LEE JOO-HEE/ The Korea Herald/ ANN)