By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent

BEIJING _ South Korean negotiators held a meeting with their North Korean counterparts last night on the eve of the six-party talks to end the standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear programs. The talks officially get underway on Wednesday.

Lee Su-hyuck, Seoul’s chief delegate, explained his country’s position regarding the second round of talks and tried to gain a better understanding of the North’s stance during the closed-door session, according to sources here.

In the first round of talks last August, the first encounter between the two Koreas took place only after the main session officially kicked off.

In yet another positive sign, Pyongyang sounded an upbeat note saying conditions have improved since the first round of negotiations. ``The circumstances of the talks are better than the previous ones,’’ chief negotiator Kim Gye-gwan was quoted by China’s Xinhua news agency as saying as he left his country on Tuesday morning.

Delegations from four other nations, including the United States, Japan, Russia and China, attended a dinner party at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, hosted by China’s Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair this week’s talks again as his country’s chief delegate, while the Japanese and Russian teams are headed by Mitoji Yabunaka and Alexander Losyukov.

They will try to issue a joint communique before ending the talks Friday, but officials say the talks could be extended depending on the situation. Two-way meetings between Pyongyang and Washington are also expected on the sidelines of the main multi-party sessions, which take place around a hexagonal table.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have been coordinating their positions closely in pursuit of an ultimate dismantling of the North’s nuclear program, including the alleged one based on highly enriched uranium (HEU).

Experts say the alleged HEU program will largely dominate the second round of talks. Disclosure of each party’s position on the issue is expected in the keynote speech in today’s main session.

The North Korean nuclear standoff began in October 2002, when U.S. officials claimed that the North admitted to having a clandestine nuclear weapons development program in violation of the 1994 international agreement.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr