BEIJING, July 25 (UPI) -- A senior U.S. official said the upcoming six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear policy would follow "different modalities" compared with previous rounds.
Speaking at a background briefing in Beijing Monday, the official said in the run-up to the talks there had been negotiations about how to proceed and the past practice of three days of discussions then a recess was not enough time to get into tough issues of nuclear disarmament.
"We've agreed to have sessions without an end time," the official said.
The diplomat noted, "There's a real sense among all six delegations that we really need to achieve something in this fourth round, that the talks have been in abeyance for some 13 months, a long time for any process, and we have to show the world that the six-party process can get somewhere."
The United States is "willing to stay as long as it's useful," he added.
Initial bilateral meetings with each of the parties -- host nation China Sunday, sessions Monday with South Korea and Japan and North Korea and Russia -- had "a good atmosphere."
