hankyoreh

The latest round of multilateral talks aimed at shutting down North Korea's key nuclear facilities has been set for next week, Beijing officials said Friday.

"The sixth round of the six-party talks will be held in Beijing from September 27 to 30," the Chinese foreign ministry announced on its Web site.

The talks involving the divided Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia was originally expected to be held from Wednesday, but Beijing, host of the negotiations, called off the meeting on Monday without providing any reasons.

One of the possible reasons for the delay may be the North's reaction to recent news reports alleging links between the communist country and Syria's pursuit of a nuclear program, an activity U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said would be a "great concern" if proven true.

Under a six-way deal signed in February, North Korea has to disable its key nuclear facilities and declare all its nuclear programs in exchange for energy aid and political benefits.

High on the agenda of the new round of six-party talks will be how nuclear facilities in North Korea should be disabled and what should be included in its list of nuclear programs to be abandoned.

The talks were last held in July, when the North shut down its key nuclear facilities under a February six-party accord. The next round is expected to set a new deadline by which Pyongyang must completely disable the closed facilities and submit a list of all its nuclear programs.

Sept. 21, BEIJING (Yonhap)