Distinguished heads of delegation and colleagues,

It is a pleasure to declare the third round of the Beijing six-party talks open. As the host, I would like to extend a warm welcome to my old as well as new friends for coming to Beijing again.

Over the more than one year, bearing in mind the hopes for peace of people of different countries and in order to realize peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, we launched and carried on the peace talk process on the nuclear issue. Despite the various difficulties that still exist, with the concerted efforts of all parties, we have set the goal of denuclearization, identified ways of resolving the nuclear issue, paved the way for peace talks, avoided the further deterioration of the nuclear issue and eased the tensions on the peninsula to a certain extent. These important achievements have not come easily and should be safeguarded and cherished by all of us.

The six-party talks have begun to discuss substantive issue. During this round of talks, we will further explore two major issues. The first one is how to realize denuclearization, including the scope and means of nuclear dismantlement, and at the same time address the concerns of all parties. The second one is how to start the first step of the denuclearization process, including implementing nuclear freezing and corresponding measures to be taken by other parties.

The positions of the parties are not the same on these substantive issues. However, the fact that all the delegations have arrived in Beijing as scheduled to attend the third round of the six-parties shows that all the parties wish to grasp this rare opportunity for peace to make the peace talks progress achieve new progress instead of seeing the Korean Peninsula continue to be covered under the shadow of the Cold War. What is more important now is that all parties have, on the basis of the progress already made to date, shown more clear political will to take a more flexible cooperation attitude in a bid to identify a practical and operable solution and start the first step towards resolving the issue.

Dear heads of delegation and colleagues,

The road towards peace is never plain. To strive for peace is the historical responsibilities on our shoulder. The nuclear issue on the peninsular cannot be resolved easily but to stick to the peace talk process is the sole correct choice. China, as host of the talks, will renew its efforts to promote peace talks through good offices, continue to work together with our colleagues of different countries with sincerity and continue to do our bit to safeguard peace and stability one the peninsula.

Thank you!