Foreign Ministers of South Korea and Russia exchanged their views on the upcoming six-party talks on the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday and agreed to make substantial progress in the talks, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.

According to a news release by the ministry, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon talked with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the phone earlier in the day and reached consensus on outstanding issues.

During their conversation, the two ministers examined the latest developments surrounding nuclear issues and discussed measures that should be taken in the next session of the six-party talks set for Feb. 8, the news release said.

The two officials agreed on the necessity for both countries to work closely with each other and urge country concerned to adhere to the joint statement adopted by the six nations on Sept. 19, 2005, in which Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for security guarantee, economic assistance and normalization of Pyongyang-Washington relations, the news release said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that the third session of the fifth round of the six-party talks, involving China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan, will be resumed on Feb. 8 in Beijing.

Earlier in the day, the Foreign Ministry announced that Chun Young-woo, South Korean top negotiator for the six-party talks, plans to visit Moscow on Wednesday to mediate for the new round of the six-part talks.

Source: Xinhua