Delegates to the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue wrapped up their ninth day of discussions on Wednesday night and agreed to continue the talks on Thursday.

No ending date has been set so far for the record-long fourth-round negotiations, while the draft joint statement, which has been revised for three times, was yet to be accepted by all the parties.

"I have no good news, neither bad news nor frightening news to report," US Chief Negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters at the hotel gate Wednesday night after a lengthy bilateral consultation with the Chinese delegation.

Hill said the US side has no plan to hold more bilateral consultations with the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) delegation on Thursday.

Piao Jianyi, a professor with the Asian-Pacific Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the talks might end on Thursday if all parties concerned could be persuaded to accept the draft document.

Jin Linbo, head of the Asia-Pacific Office under the China Research Institute of International Studies, said the talks would possibly conclude or take a recess within this week.

Jin believed that the process depends on the attitude of the United States and said that there is still time for the participants to seek a solution.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear talks, involving China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan, resumed on July 26 after a 13-month impasse.

Over the past nine days, the six parties have held frequent bilateral and multilateral consultations.

Japanese delegation head Sasae Kenichiro said on Wednesday afternoon that the six parties were still striving for reaching a consensus.

Sasae told reporters the six delegations to the ongoing talks continued to make revisions to and coordinate their stances on the latest draft of a common document during Wednesday's negotiation, with China serving as the key coordinator.

A series of one-on-one contacts were made on Wednesday for the negotiators to exchange views on the latest draft common document, which is aimed at establishing a framework for future talks on the eventual settlement of the nuclear issue.

Earlier reports said a chief delegates' session, planned for Wednesday afternoon, was canceled, which observers say may indicate the failure to make a "final comment" on the draft document.

Hill said on Wednesday morning that the latest draft document "narrowed differences" among all sides, and that an agreement could be possibly reached.

He said that the draft, presented by the Chinese delegation, was "really designed to narrow the differences and maybe even got to the point where we can really agree on something."

It should be the last version for the common document as the six delegations would make a "final comment" on the latest fourth draft on Wednesday, he said.

According to Hill, the negotiators "are really getting close, close to the end of this round" of the nuclear talks.

The DPRK delegation, in its first open statement on the current talks on Tuesday afternoon, admitted differences existed between it and the United States.

DPRK delegation head Kim Kye-gwan said that his delegation had hours of consultations with the US delegation over past days.

"Though there are disagreements between the two, we wish to be able to minimize the differences and achieve a result in the talks," he said.

Kim, also vice foreign minister of the DPRK, reiterated his country's stance that Pyongyang's abandonment of its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs depends on whether the United States removes its nuclear threat against the DPRK and establishes mutual trust with Pyongyang.

The DPRK delegation remained silent on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua