US top negotiator to the six-party talks Christopher Hill said on Friday night that the next meeting of the six parties to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is expected to be held soon.

Hill, who arrived in Beijing earlier Friday, said after discussing with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei on the specific date of the next six-party meeting that the meeting will soon be held but declined to tell the specific date.

"We talked about scheduling for six-party talks... having a six-party meeting soon, and to get on with the declaration and other obligations so that we can move on to the next phase," Hill said.

They are going to have another meeting on Monday to further discuss the timing and sequencing of the six-party talks, Hill said.

As to report saying that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is going to submit the declaration of its nuclear plan, Hill said he is not in the position to confirm the report.

Hill stressed what will happen soon is the DPRK's declaration, and then probably a heads-of-delegation meeting or a full meeting of the six parties, emphasizing that all the things will happen very quickly after the declaration, including the U.S. obligations.

Hill visited Japan on Thursday where he had consultations with the government of Japan as well as some Republic of Korean officials before going to China on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2008)