Tokyo, Oct. 18 (ANI): Japan, the United States and South Korea have reaffirmed in a senior level meeting in Tokyo that they will closely coordinate their stance against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
The three countries also reaffirmed that they still want Russia and China to try and play constructive roles as members of the long-stalled six-nation talks in ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
According to the Japan Times, the trilateral talks were in part aimed at demonstrating to the international community that the three nations' stance towards North Korea is unaffected by the intensified territorial row between Japan and South Korea over a pair of islets in the Sea of Japan.
The meeting was chaired by Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.
The other participants were Glyn Davies, U.S. special envoy on North Korea, and Lim Sung Nam, South Korea's chief negotiator to the six-party talks.
"We reaffirmed the strong solidarity (shared by) Japan, the United States and South Korea" on matters pertaining to North Korea, Sugiyama said, underscoring the role China must play as North Korea's key ally.
Japan's chief negotiator in the six-party talks said that if North Korea shows concrete action towards fulfilling its international commitments and charts a course different from its current tack, a "different path would open up," the report said.
In the meeting, Sugiyama also briefed his U.S. and South Korean counterparts on the progress made in intergovernmental talks between Japan and North Korea that began in late August after a four-year hiatus, it added.
In the trilateral meeting, Japan, the United States and South Korea also agreed to continue holding three-way consultations "at various levels and as frequently as possible," Japan's Sugiyama said. (ANI)
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