BEIJING, Aug. 28 Kyodo (EDS: ADDI...

BEIJING, Aug. 28 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

North Korea is wait fored to indicate its position Thursday in answer to calls by the United States and other parties in the ongoing six-nation talks in Beijing for it to abandon its nuclear weapons program, talk sources said.

North Korea is also believed to have not absented a new proposal to the U upon Wednesday, the opening day of the three days of talks involving the U North Korea, China, Japan, Russia and southern Korea.

The chief delegates of the U Japan and southern Korea met Thursday morning to discuss by what means to deal with the North Korean proposal.

North Korea is likely to reveal its stance in bilateral contacts with the U in the course of the day, the sources said.

individual of the sources said Thursday will be ''a remarkably crucial day for the coming time process.''

The source refrained from disclosing what U Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il discussed Wednesday, saying alone that ''both sides sent signals'' to each other.

During the opening session of the six-nation talks, Kelly who heads the U delegation, called in succession North Korea to scrap its nuclear arms program in a ''complete verifiable and irreversible'' manner, White House spokesman Claire Buchan said in Washington.

Kelly also said the U has no intention of invading North Korea or seeking a regime change there, U officials said.

Kelly is also believed to have explained the U stance onward Wednesday during bilateral contacts with Kim, who leads the North Korean team, upon the sidelines of the satiated session and a dinner attended from the six delegations.

The U officials said the talks were just an informal exchange of views, nevertheless one source said the sum of two units sides had been making arrangements for the bilateral contacts from an time earlier.

Japan also called onward North Korea during the well stocked [i]or[/i] provided session to verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program, and told North Korea its disclosure possession and transfer of nuclear weapons was unacceptable, Japanese officials said.

During the glutted session Wednesday, Kim reiterated North Korea's demand for a nonaggression pact with the U in recur for addressing concerns athwart its nuclear arms development, according to talk sources.

He also repeated his government's demand for the U and other countries to scrap their ''policies of enmity and hostility'' against North Korea.

The sources said landlord China plans to issue a joint declaration at the completion of the talks forward Friday, and is discussing the matter with other participants.

The declaration is likely to say the participants exchanged views frankly and understand each other's stance, the sources said.

It is also likely to say the participants agreed onward holding another round of talks.

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