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Officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea gathered in Washington Wednesday for informal talks on how to coordinate policies toward the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the State Department said.
"These are informal consultations among the members of the group that does meet more formally sometimes on North Korea (DPRK)," spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing.
Senior diplomats from the three countries meet regularly to discuss issues on the Korean peninsula within a framework called Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG). But both Boucher and other US officials stressed that the consultations Wednesday are informal.
Boucher said the principal subject of the discussions will be the situation with regards to the DPRK and how to continue to pursue a peaceful and diplomatic solution which could result in a "verifiable and irreversible end" to DPRK's alleged nuclear weapons programs.
"It's an ongoing consultation and not intended to adopt or approve some new initiative," a US official commented on the meeting.
The delegations to the informal talks were reportedly to be led by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck, and director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian affairs section Mitoji Yabunaka.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2003)
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