Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea commenced talks Saturday in Tokyo, where they are likely to confirm close trilateral cooperation in responding to North Korea’s globally condemned nuclear test last week.
The officials are expected to share plans to enlist China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a longtime benefactor of North Korea, in the adoption of a tougher Security Council resolution against Pyongyang, government sources said.
China, which borders North Korea, is seen to be cautious about imposing harsh sanctions on Pyongyang.
Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister
Akitaka Saiki, Deputy Secretary of State
Antony Blinken of the United States and
Lim Sung Nam, first vice minister of foreign affairs of South Korea, are attending the talks at the Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo.
The three countries are stepping up efforts to revamp trilateral cooperation amid a thaw in Japan–South Korea ties since a landmark deal was reached last month to resolve a long-standing dispute over “comfort women” procured for Japan’s wartime military brothels.
Aside from the North Korean nuclear test, the three officials may also discuss strengthening security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Beijing’s massive and fast-paced land reclamation in the South China Sea, where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have conflicting territorial claims, has escalated tensions in the area.
China’s landing of planes on an airstrip it constructed in a contested part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea earlier this month has triggered criticism from Japan and the United States.
Saturday’s talks came after the three countries’ chief delegates to the six-party talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, met Wednesday in Seoul and agreed to push for “meaningful and new sanctions” in response to North Korea.
The six-party talks, which also involve China and Russia, have been deadlocked since late 2008.
North Korea claimed it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6, although doubts have been cast over whether a hydrogen bomb was detonated.
==Kyodo
Category: Daily Witness, National
