Inclusion of Tokyo, Seoul to be demanded

HONOLULU ― South Korea, Japan and the United States agreed yesterday that the next round of talks with North Korea should involve five countries, including the two most closely affected by the communist North’s nuclear programs.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, who represents South Korea at the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group meetings on North Korea, told reporters after two meetings here that the United States would not consider any format for the talks that did not involve South Korea and Japan. “And the Korean government shared the view that that would be the adequate method,” he added.
The first round of talks in April included only the United States, North Korea and China.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State James Kelly held separate meetings with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan yesterday. The three meet in a trilateral meeting today.
Japan indicated agreement with the U.S. position, Seoul officials here said, and the agreement on the five-party format would be communicated to North Korea through China.
The agreement represented a formal change of position by the three countries that is not likely to be altered by North Korea, which itself has insisted on holding at least one direct meeting and possibly more with the United States alone before allowing other parties to join the table.
Seoul officials here said most of the discussions centered on the format of the talks, with no reference to the possibility of applying sanctions against the North.
But the United States raised the possibility of suspending work on two nuclear reactors being built in North Korea for “technical reasons.” Fresh agreements are needed between the North and the United States, an official said, for the supply of parts needed to continue the project. “And it is just not possible to have those agreement signed under present conditions,” he said.

by Oh Young-hwan