The United States said on Tuesday that important progress was made in the fourth round of six-party talks in Beijing and believed that an agreement will be reached.

"We have made important progress in this round of talks. There is agreement among five nations, a consensus that we need a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," White House deputy spokesman Trent Duffy said at a briefing.

"We anticipate a reconvening of the talks on Aug. 29th, so we believe there has been important progress and we are still optimistic that some agreement can be reached," he said.

In addition, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said on Monday that "good progress" was made during 13 days of talks in Beijing.

"We have before us a draft declaration of principles. We would expect and hope that we can come back in three weeks to conclude an agreement on that draft," Ereli said.

China announced on Sunday that all the six parties to the fourth round of the Korean nuclear issue talks agreed to take a three-week recess and resume the talks in the week that begins on Aug. 29th.

Source: Xinhua