ROK to hold six-party talks with China, US, Japan on DPRK nuke program

SEOUL - Representatives of Republic of Korea(ROK), China, the United States and Japan in six-party talks to dismantle the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program will meet this week to discuss the DPRK's fourth nuclear test, Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday.

Hwang Joon-Kook, who represents ROK at the aid-for-disarmament talks, will hold a meeting with his US and Japan counterparts on Wednesday in Seoul.

During the meeting, the diplomats will make an in-depth discussion on bilateral and multilateral countermeasures against what the DPRK claimed was its fourth test of a "hydrogen bomb" last Wednesday, including comprehensive and strong resolutions from the UN Security Council.

Hwang will visit China Thursday to meet Wu Dawei, China's special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs, and discuss countermeasures following the DPRK's fourth nuclear test.

Schedules for the meeting between Hwang and his Russian counterpart are under coordination between the two sides, the ministry said.

The six-party talks involve ROK, the DPRK, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

The ministry said that right after the DPRK's nuclear test, Hwang made emergency phone calls with his six-party-talks counterparts, noting that Seoul will make efforts to bring concerted response of the international society via such series of consultations.