South Korea's chief negotiator for the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula Kim Sook said Sunday that he was "not very optimistic" over the upcoming six-party talks.

"On the prospects of the six-party talks, we will have to see, but I am not very optimistic," Kim said before departure from Incheon International Airport for Beijing, China.

This round of the talks will play an important role in wrapping up the second stage of the denuclearization process and connecting it to the third stage, including the verification and dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear facilities, Kim said.

He said the talks' agenda will be the written protocol, a time plan for Pyongyang's denuclearization and energy aid and how to implement the third stage of the denuclearization process.

Chief negotiators from China, the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Russia, Japan and South Korea will gather in Beijing on Monday to launch a new round of six- party talks.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2008)