Moscow, Beijing share approaches to North Korean nuclear problem

Russia and China continue to share the principal approaches on the North Korean nuclear problem, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, head of the Russian delegation at the hexalateral talks in Beijing Alexander Losyukov told RIA Novosti.

He said this after consultations with the head of the Chinese delegation, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

At the consultations, the two delegation leaders "checked their positions ahead the start of the negotiations," that open on August 27th, Losyukov said.

On the whole the two countries share certain optimism that the forthcoming discussions will be useful "not only for solving some problems, but also for exchanging information and understanding the principles the parties are ready to be guided by at further negotiations", he emphasized.

"If there is no consent on principal issues, further talks will be useless," the deputy minister pointed out. "So the task of the current round of talks is to find out such common principal approaches," he said.

During the consultations with Wang Yi the parties agreed "to further co-ordinate their positions and maintain a permanent contact", Losyukov announced.

By August 27th, when the first round of talks on the North Korean nuclear problem opens in Beijing, the Russian delegation is expected to hold meetings with delegations of North Korea, the USA, South Korea and Japan.