The ongoing six-party talks, aimed at establishing a timetable for the disablement of the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea''s (DPRK) nuclear facilities, is likely to extend to Friday, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.

Top U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said, when he came back to the hotel after finishing Thursday''s session, "They will have one more meeting tomorrow."

The six negotiators had a meeting Thursday morning and held several rounds of bilateral consultations in the afternoon.

A press release on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, "The meeting is continuing in a serious and pragmatic atmosphere".

"It must be a controversial discussion about which step to take next,"said Tao Wenzhao, a research fellow with the American Studies Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He said it would be a "strategic choice" for the DPRK to implement the February 13 joint document, and that trust was required between the DPRK and the United States.

Hill had said on Thursday morning that the meeting, which began on Wednesday, would end the same day. Chief negotiator of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Chun Yung Woo said all six parties had agreed on what nuclear facilities the DPRK should declare. Russian special envoy Vladimir Rakhmanin said the meeting was held in "a friendly atmosphere". He also warned the participants not to "complicate or simplify the problems discussed".

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