Delegation heads from Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) made contacts and had an exchange of views on the nuclear issue and bilateral issues, said a member of the Japanese delegation to the six-party talks in Beijing Wednesday.  

The official said at the press conference that Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese delegation and director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, contacted and had a discussion with Kim Kye-gwan, head of the DPRK delegation and deputy foreign minister of the DPRK, at the reception held by Wang Yi, head of the Chinese delegation head and Chinese vice foreign minister.

The two sides discussed on bilateral contacts to be made during the third round of six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, he said.

He said the third round of six-party talks entered into a phase of discussing substantial issues after the opening ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. In the plenary session, the delegations from the DPRK, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) gave an account of their opinions and proposals, with some delegations setting forth specific relevant measures of freezing the nuclear programs.

The delegations from Japan, China and Russia are expected to put forward their proposals on the second day of this round of six-party talks on June 24, he added.

He said the stance of Japan, the United States and the ROK remained basically unchanged, and they still stood for achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) through six-party talks, and then building a nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula.

The official reiterated that Japan will consider providing the DPRK with such humanitarian aid as food, but no economic aid before the settlement of the abduction issue and the nuclear issue and the normalization of bilateral relations between Japan and the DPRK.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2004)