South Korean top nuclear negotiator departed Saturday for Beijing to attend the fourth round of the six-party talks on resolving the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, which will open on next Tuesday.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, accompanied by several other officials, left the Incheon Intentional Airport for Beijing earlier Saturday, reported the South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

Chief nuclear negotiator of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan already was in Beijing.

While the US chief delegate to the talks and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia-Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill is to arrive in Beijing on Sunday, said Yonhap.

The Japanese and Russian delegations will fly to Beijing on Sunday and Monday, respectively.

The fourth round of the six-party nuclear talks is scheduled to open on next Tuesday, but parties concerned did not set a time limit for the talks.

The first round of the six-party talks was held in Beijing in August 2003. The multilateral meeting had been stalled when the fourth round of the talks failed to be convened as scheduled.

The DPRK announced on July 9 it will rejoin the six-party talks in the last week of the month.

Source: Xinhua