S. Korea, U.S., Japan to discuss N. Korea in trilateral talks

SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Senior defense officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan will have face-to-face talks on North Korea's saber-rattling later this week, a Seoul ministry announced Monday.

The regional powers plan to hold the Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) in Tokyo on Wednesday, the ninth session of the forum launched in 2008, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

It would be the first set of talks since the launch of the Donald Trump administration seeking to put more pressure on Pyongyang for its development of weapons of mass destruction.

In the upcoming meeting, the ministry added, the three sides will discuss partnerships against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and "various ways for cooperation" including military exchanges among them.

South Korea will be represented by Wee Seung-ho, deputy minister for policy. His American and Japanese counterparts will be David F. Helvey, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, and Satoshi Maeda, director general for defense policy.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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