The nation's chief nuclear negotiator said Saturday that the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program will likely reopen in the third week of this month.

Arriving in Seoul from his two-day visit to Beijing, nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters that he had proposed to China that the six-party talks be resumed immediately after North Korea starts shutting down its nuclear facilities.

Pyongyang says it will begin the shutdown process once the first shipment of heavy fuel arrives from South Korea around next week.

Chun said the next round of the six-party talks will likely last for about two or three days.

However, he declined to give a date for the meeting, saying that China, the host country of the multilateral talks, will announce a detailed schedule early next week.