South Korea, US, Japan to hold talks on North Korea n-programme

Top negotiators of South Korea, the US and Japan plan to meet in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss the North Korea's nuclear programme and ways of resuming the long-stalled six-party talks to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.

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

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 North Korea, China and Russia.

The trilateral meeting came after the North Korea said on May 9 that it had successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile. On May 20, North Korea National Defence 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 North Korea's nuclear issues at all levels, including deterrence, pressure and dialogue, the ministry said.

The negotiators involved Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs along with Sung Kim, US special representative for North Korea policy and Junichi Ihara, Japanese foreign ministry's director- general for the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau.

The two negotiators of South Korea and the US would reportedly fly to China right after the trilateral meeting to meet with Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs.