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Beijing: Six-nation talks on disarming North Korea's nuclear programme continued on Saturday after getting closer to an agreement on ways to verify the communist nation's declaration of its atomic materials.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang noted "some positive progress had been made" but did not reveal any details. The US envoy to the talks has said the verification process could take weeks or even months.
Qin told a news conference late on Friday, "Just what are the specific agreements on verification, I think the six parties will make an announcement soon."
Separate working group meetings focused on the more technical aspects of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula as well as economic and energy cooperation with North Korea, he said.
It was unclear whether Saturday would be the last day of talks.
"We're striving for it to end. ... Each delegation is working toward that goal, not only to end ... but to end with results," Qin said.
The current round of talks, the first in nine months, comes after North Korea handed over a much-delayed nuclear declaration late last month and then blew up the cooling tower at its main nuclear reactor to demonstrate its commitment to disarmament.
Energy-starved North Korea was promised fuel aid equivalent to 1 million tons of oil under a February 2007 disarmament deal. Japan has opted out of contributing, citing a lack of progress by North Korea in resolving the issue of its abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s. North Korea has complained that countries involved in the talks have supplied only 40 per cent of promised energy shipments.
"Japan and North Korea have some problems in their relations," Qin said, adding China hoped that they can resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations.
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