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Korea, United States, and Japan began an unofficial meeting in Tokyo on Monday to concentrate on fine-tuning proposals to be presented to North Korea in the second round of the six-way talks to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis. The meeting, to continue until Tuesday, will cover multiple scenarios, depending on North Korea¡¯s responses and whether or not the construction of the light water nuclear reactors are to continue.
The chief representatives at the talks are the same as those at the first six-way talks- Assistant Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuk, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and Japanese Consul General Yabunaka Mitoji.
¡°We will evaluate the results of the first six-way talks and discuss joint strategies to prepare for the next talks,¡± Lee said. ¡°If needed, we may hold another unofficial conference in October.¡±
Japanese media were most interested in what type of plan the United States will offer to North Korea to guarantee the latter¡¯s system. Because the Korean and Japanese governments have recently discussed that they are ready to guarantee the "inviolability" of Pyongyang if it announces that it will give up nuclear weapons, the Japanese are interested in whether this will be discussed in the conference according to a report in the newspaper Nihon Keizai.
Japanese media also reported that the representatives would discuss the prospects of sending to North Korea an investigation team composed of representatives from countries participating in the six-way talks to verify a shutdown of the North's nuclear programs - one separate from the nuclear inspection team from the International Atomic Energy Association.
(Jung Kwon-hyun, khjung@chosun.com )
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