Japan voiced hope Sept. 18 for the six-party talks focused on denuclearizing North Korea to resume at an early date, and to quickly reach agreements on the denuclearization process and vowed to make efforts toward such an end, after the planned plenary session of the talks Sept. 19 was postponed.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano KYODO PHOTO

"We are hoping that the discussions resume and that we can get an agreement as soon as possible, and Japan, for its part, will work in whatever possible way for that to happen," Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said at a news conference.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano said at a separate news conference that the deferment was due to North Korea.

"China as host was making all-out efforts to coordinate the dates and was close to setting the date for Sept. 19 but this had to be postponed due to North Korea's schedule," said Yosano.

Machimura and Yosano said the government had not received any information on the reason for the postponement and as to when the next plenary session is likely to take place.

Machimura said delays in the six-party schedules are anticipated given past experiences in which North Korea delayed the talks, most recently in March due to a financial dispute with the United States.

"(Six-party schedules) tend to be late due to various circumstances and I do not think this is a good thing," he said, criticizing North Korea for causing such delays.

Diplomats suggested that the denuclearization talks could now be held later in October, given major events in the region's political calendar over the next month.