By Park Song-wu
Korea Times Correspondent


BEIJING _ Top delegates from North Korea and the United States held an informal meeting here on Monday to ``compare notes’’ prior to Tuesday’s official opening of the six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

During the 80-minute meeting at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse, the two sides checked each other’s willingness for progress in the fourth round of the talks, which resumed after a 13-month hiatus, a Seoul official said on a condition of anonymity.

``The two sides still need to narrow their opinion gap,’’ he said. ``But they have a common goal. They want to achieve a substantive result this time. They will continue holding talks and try to find a solution.’’

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters before attending the talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan that the meeting was intended to sound out Pyongyang’s readiness for the talks.

``We are just trying to get acquainted, review how we see things coming up and compare notes,’’ Hill said. ``We are looking forward to working hard and trying to make some progress.’’

It was the first encounter between Kim and Hill since a July 9 meeting in Beijing where the North Korean made the surprising announcement that Pyongyang would return to the six-party talks.

The Monday meeting was also the first of its kind to be held before an official opening of the six-party talks.

Chief delegates from the six participating countries _ the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan _ scurried to hold bilateral contacts throughout the day.

Before the Pyongyang-Washington meeting, South Korea’s chief delegate, Song Min-soon, met the American chief delegate at China World Hotel to share the results of his meeting with Kim a day earlier. Hill also briefed Song about his Sunday meeting with the Chinese delegation, led by Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

Song also meet Japanese chief delegate, Kenichiro Sasae, before attending a welcoming reception hosted at the state guesthouse by China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in the evening.

``We underlined that Japan should focus on the nuclear issue to accomplish a constructive result,’’ a Seoul official said. ``Japan didn’t raise an objection to our request.’’

The official declined to elaborate. But his remarks were apparently intended to warn Japan not to raise the abduction issue during the six-party talks. North Korea confessed in 2002 that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and the 1980s to use them as language instructors for spies.

The South Koreans plan to hold separate bilateral talks with the Chinese delegation and the Russian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev, after the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. at the state guesthouse with Wu Dawei declaring the opening of the six-party talks. Li Zhaoxing will deliver a keynote speech, which will be followed by chief delegates’ opening remarks that are expected to last around two minutes each.

im@koreatimes.co.kr