By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent

BEIJING - The third round of six-party nuclear talks will open here on Wednesday afternoon to discuss concrete measures for North Korea’s nuclear freeze, a first step toward an ultimate de-nuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula.

The six nations have agreed in their preparatory meetings that there should be ``more concrete and authorized’’ discussion during the plenary session on the ``nuclear freeze’’ in a verifiable manner, a South Korean delegate said.

South and North Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia and the host China held the two-day working-group meetings involving deputy chief negotiators to make preparations for the plenary session to be held until Saturday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in western Beijing.

``For North Korea, this is a great opportunity to signal their commitment to a full-scale de-nuclearization,’’ James Kelly, chief U.S. negotiator, told reporters as he arrived at the Beijing International Airport. ``And when they do, this will open up all kinds of things politically, economically, diplomatically and certainly the U.S. side will welcome that.’’

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, who arrived around noon, vowed to make efforts to achieve ``substantial progress’’ in the talks.

``We will make efforts to help the talks produce more substantial progress compared to previous rounds,’’ the chief delegate said, adding he would discuss Seoul’s ``three-stage proposal’’ with other delegates to seek support for the idea.

While meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Lee said he hoped the six nations would adopt a joint statement containing substantial, concrete agreements at the end of the talks.

With the two main antagonists, North Korea and the U.S. refusing to make concessions, Seoul’s proposal calls for initial verbal promises to address each other’s concerns, followed by phased-in ``reciprocal’’ actions and then the normalization of bilateral ties when the nuclear issue is fully settled.

Earlier this month, a senior U.S. official said Seoul’s offer is acceptable, describing it as ``rational.’’

Lee is scheduled to meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Gye-gwan Wednesday morning, for bilateral contact between the two delegations, an official said. He added, although nothing had been fixed, there would be bilateral contact between the U.S. and North Korea before the opening ceremony of the main six-party talks Wednesday afternoon.

This week’s meeting constitutes the third session of main talks. The previous two rounds failed to produce a clear breakthrough.

The nuclear dispute began in October 2002, after U.S. officials said Pyongyang admitted to having a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of international agreements.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr