ROK, US, Japan to hold talks on DPRK nuke program

SEOUL - Top negotiators of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States and Japan plan to meet in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program and ways of resuming the long-stalled six-party talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

Bilateral talks would be held Tuesday among the three diplomats, who represent their respective countries in the six-party talks, according to the ROK's foreign ministry.

On Wednesday, they would hold a trilateral dialogue to discuss how to resume the aid-for-disarmament talks that have stalled since late 2008. The six-way dialogue also includes the DPRK, China and Russia.

The trilateral meeting came after the DPRK said on May 9 that it had successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile. On May 20, the DPRK's National Defense Commission said that it had a capability of miniaturizing and diversifying nuclear warheads to mount them onto ballistic missiles.

During the Seoul meeting, the nuclear envoys would have in- depth consultations on various ways for substantive progress in the DPRK's nuclear issues at all levels, including deterrence, pressure and dialogue, the ministry said.

The negotiators involved Hwang Joon-kook, the ROK's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs along with Sung Kim, US special representative for the DPRK policy and Junichi Ihara, Japanese foreign ministry's director-general for the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau. The two negotiators of the ROK and the United States would reportedly fly to China right after the trilateral meeting to meet with Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs.