Good evening, I am sorry to have kept you waiting.

The agenda of today's meeting was just completed. Today is the third day for the sixth round of six-party talks. As you know there are three subjects for discussion during this round of talks: first, to hear each working group's report on the progress of their work; second, to discuss and identify the specific steps for the implementation of the initial actions; third, to discuss what actions each party prepares to take or should take in the next phase.

In these three days the meeting of the heads of delegation was held to discuss the first agenda. The participants listened to each working group's report on the progress of their work. The second and third agendas have not been discussed at the meeting of the heads of delegation yet. However all parties have conducted intense and close bilateral consultations in these three days, during which they have exchanged their preliminary views on the second and third agendas.

Currently there are still some technical difficulties on some issues. The related parties are taking active measures to overcome them.

All the parties agreed at the just ended meeting of the heads of delegation that it is necessary to extend the duration of the talks.

Next I will take a few questions briefly.

Q: How long will the meeting be extended? Dose the "technical problems" mean that "DPRK insists on the arrival of the frozen capitals in the account first"?

A: It's difficult to tell you now when the talks will end. It depends on the progress of the talks. As for the question you raised, I believe everyone is pretty clear about it.

Q: How to resolve the "technical problems" you just mentioned? Through the technical method or solving them in other ways?

A: It requires the related agencies to properly resolve them according to laws. Here I can tell you that all related parties are making active efforts toward the resolution of these difficulties.

Q: Are the technical problems you mentioned mainly the problems of the Chinese side or the DPRK side or of the U.S. side?

A: The problems involve all parties.

Q: Will the second subject on identifying specific steps for the implementation of the initial actions be discussed at the meeting of the heads of delegation or the plenary meeting to be held tomorrow, or will it be discussed in the coming days?

A: The six parties agreed to extend the duration of the talks. The goal is to set aside more time for the parties to discuss the issues needed to be discussed at this round of talks. These issues include the second subject you mentioned.