ROK, US, Japan to Coordinate NK Policy
2003-09-17
Officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan will coordinate their policy on issues regarding North Korea and discuss plans for the next six-way talks at an informal meeting in Tokyo on Sept. 29-30, Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry officials said on Tuesday (Sept. 16).
Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, chief South Korean negotiator for the nuclear talks which ended in Beijing last month, will meet with U.S. Assistant State Secretary James Kelly and Japanese Director-General Mitoji Yabunaka.
“The three nations will exchange assessments of the first six-way talks and discuss common strategies for the next round of talks,” Lee said in a briefing.
He said the three nations will not conduct further discussion on setting the dates for the next six-way talks. The Aug. 27-29 Beijing talks ended without scheduling another meeting.
Additionally, South Korea will use the trilateral consultations as a venue to promote diplomacy with Europe, where many countries have shown keener interests to participate in the dialogue with North Korea.
“EU (European Union) countries are interested in joining the six-way talks,” the official said, adding they hope to take part in the talks "in the long term, not right now."
The three-way meeting has taken an unofficial format to allow discussions in a freer setting, Lee added.
“The TCOG (Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group) in comparison is much more formal, with opening and closing speeches,” he said, pointing out the TCOG also involves a much larger number of negotiators, upwards of 20 at a time.
Source : www.korea.net
