US, Japan, ROK to meet on DPRK

WASHINGTON - Officials from the United States, Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK) will meet next week in Tokyo on issues relating to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) , the US State Department said on Thursday.

The trilateral dialogue slated for October 17th will be attended by Glyn Davies, US special representative for DPRK policy, Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan 's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lim Sung-nam, ROK's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security issues, the department said.

"The trilateral meeting is part of an ongoing dialogue among the three countries to exchange views on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and reaffirm our continued close coordination on North Korea issues," the agency said in a statement.

In addition, Davies will hold bilateral consultations with his Japanese and ROK counterparts during his visit to the two countries' capitals, the agency noted.

In his eight-day travel to Asia starting on Saturday which will take him to Japan, ROK, China, Myanmar and India, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will also discuss the DPRK issue.

"We always talk about North Korea when we're in North Asia and our efforts to try to get them to show some new movement and new commitment in the context of the proposals that the six parties have made," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Thursday.

The six-party talks involve the DPRK, ROK, Japan, China, Russia and the United States over denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. In a 2005 joint statement, the DPRK committed itself to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In the statement, Washington affirmed that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons, while Seoul reaffirmed its commitment not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons in accordance with the 1992 Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.