Four delegations from Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan and the United States, arrived in Beijing Monday for the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue, which are scheduled to open Wednesday.

The delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is expected to arrive Tuesday for the talks.

The three-day talks, which are scheduled to be held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, are widely seen as an important step towards a peaceful solution of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, following on the "Beijing Talks" in April.

Beijing hosted initial talks with Washington and Pyongyang in April, but no details were given out by the participants.

The heads of the delegations to the talks are Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi; Kim Yong-il, DPRK deputy foreign minister; James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States; Alexander Losiukov, Russian deputy foreign minister; Lee Soo-hyuck, ROK deputy minister of foreign affairs and trade; and Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general for the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of Japan's Foreign Ministry.

Some 500 reporters, from home and abroad, have applied to the Chinese Foreign Ministry to cover the talks, sources said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Losiukov said Monday morning at Beijing airport that he is "discreetly optimistic" about the upcoming talks.

The talks follow a flurry of diplomatic activities to restart talks on the nuclear standoff, which erupted in October after US officials claimed Pyongyang had admitted to reviving a program to produce atomic weapons.

(China Daily August 26, 2003)