Seoul, August 21 (Yonhap) -- Officials from six nations working to denuclearize North Korea were to open a second day of talks in Moscow Tuesday to discuss ways to establish peace and security in Northeast Asia long after the communist North disarms.

The working-level talks stem from a February accord signed by North Korea and five other nations in talks on ending North Korea"s nuclear ambition, in which the North agreed to shut down and eventually disable its key nuclear facilities while declaring all of its nuclear programs.

The first round of working talks, which also discussed the denuclearization of North Korea and the provision of promised energy assistance to the communist state, came shortly after the landmark denuclearization deal was signed on Feb. 13.

This week"s talks came after Pyongyang shut down its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon last month under the February agreement in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea.

A separate working group on energy and economic assistance for the North met on the South Korean side of a border village jointly controlled by the divided Koreas earlier this month while working group talks on how to denuclearize the communist nation were held in China"s Shenyang last week.

The key issues in these working-level talks are how the North"s next denuclearization steps to disable the Yongbyon facilities and declare its nuclear programs should be sequenced and carried out, as well as when and how 950,000 tons of heavy oil promised in return will be provided.

The Moscow meeting has little to do with the actual denuclearization of the North, but rather it deals with the question of "what comes after North Korea denuclearizes," a South Korean official close to the six-nation nuclear talks said while asking not to be identified.

"Considering the nature of the issues discussed here, it wouldn"t be wise to expect quick results," Vladimir Rakhmanin, a Russian ambassador at large and the chairman of the Northeast Asia peace and security working group, was quoted as saying Monday by his country"s Itar-Tass news agency.

The nuclear disarmament talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia. The countries" chief nuclear envoys to the Beijing-hosted talks last met in July and are expected to hold a plenary session early next month.

Also created by the February agreement were two bilateral working groups between North Korea and the United States, and between the North and Japan, aimed at normalizing their diplomatic ties as a reward for the North"s denuclearization steps.

The U.S.-North Korea normalization group is expected to meet later in the month, but the Japan-North Korea group has yet to set a date.

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