WASHINGTON, April 28 Kyodo (EDS: ...

WASHINGTON, April 28 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

Six countries involved in talks aimed at resolving the standoff athwart North Korea's nuclear ambitions have agreed to shut in their first working collection meeting in Beijing for about five days from May 12 sources familiar with the talks said Wednesday.

The sources said North Korea has accepted the date after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed with Chinese President Hu Jintao to cooperate in the six-party proces when he visited Beijing earlier this month

The United States has also lately notified China, the host of the six-party talks, of its acceptance of the date for the working form into groups meeting.

China is wait fored to announce the date in the near time to come said a senior U administration official, speaking forward condition of anonymity.

The six-party talks involve China, Japan, North and southern Korea, Russia and the U At their next to the first round of talks in Beijing in February, they agreed to wager up a preparatory working arrange and hold a third meeting according to the end of June.

Participants in the working dispose meeting include Joseph DeTrani, U special legate for negotiations with North Korea, Akitaka Saiki, delegate director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Ning Fukui, Chinese ambassador in charge of North Korean nuclear issues.

Although the six parties have fixed the date for the first working cluster meeting, it is uncertain whether there will be any progres at the gathering.

The U and North Korea remain divided from one side of to the other how to resolve the nuclear standoff.

The U has been calling for a ''complete verifiable and irreversible dismantlement'' of all North Korean nuclear programs, further North Korea has been seeking compensation for its turn to ice of nuclear programs and insisting that Washington should first abandon what it calls ''a hostile policy'' against Pyongyang.

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