U.S. special envoy for N. Korea to meet S. Korean, Japanese counterparts next week

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim will travel to Tokyo next week for talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, the U.S. state department said Friday.

The U.S. envoy will make a three-day visit to Japan from Wednesday for a trilateral meeting with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Gunn and Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, according to the department.

"The three sides will discuss a broad range of issues, including our continued joint efforts to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Special Representative Kim will stress the U.S. commitment to dialogue, even while we will take all necessary action to address the threat Pyongyang poses to the United States and our allies," said the department in a press release.

"This trilateral meeting underscores the importance of ongoing close U.S. collaboration with Japan and the ROK on DPRK issues and the ironclad U.S. commitment to the security of the ROK and Japan," it added.

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

The scheduled meeting comes amid fears that North Korea may soon conduct a nuclear test.

Seoul and Washington have said Pyongyang appears to have completed all preparations for its seventh nuclear test and that it may only be waiting for a political decision from its leaders.

The upcoming meeting also follows trilateral talks between the countries' top national security advisers this week in Hawaii.

South Korea's national security adviser Kim Sung-han earlier said the countries' reaction to a new North Korean nuclear test will be stern and "different" from those taken in the past.

"Should North Korea conduct its seventh nuclear test, our reaction will certainly be different from those until now," he said Thursday after his trilateral meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary General Takeo Akiba.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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