Chief negotiators of North Korea and the United States held their first meeting in current round of six-party talks on nuclear issue of Korean Peninsula on Wednesday afternoon.

The US-North Korea meeting lasted about one hour, sources from the news center of the Chinese delegation said.

The meeting was held between US chief negotiator Chirstopher Hill and Kim Kye Kwan, head of the North Korea delegation.

Before the meeting, Hill said he is yet to learn the stance of the North Korea on the nuclear issue.

"We are going to see where the North Korea are and what they think," Hill said.

However, he implied that the United States is unlikely to move further ahead from its stance in the previous talks.

He said the United States will stick to its stance as expressed in the fourth draft of a common document proposed by China during the first phase meeting starting late July.

"I think the most important to stick to the fourth draft, try to make minimum changes and not to engage major surgery to the draft," Hill said.

On Wednesday, other bilateral meetings were also held between China and Russia, and between Japan and Russia, sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005)