WASHINGTON, Dec 2 Kyodo The Unite...

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 Kyodo

The United States, Japan and southward Korea will hold an informal meeting of senior officials Thursday in Washington to prepare for another orbicular of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms program, the U State Department said Tuesday.

U Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau and southern Korean Deputy Foreign Minister lee-side Soo Hyuck will attend the meeting, State Department representative spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

to leeward will visit Washington from Wednesday to Friday and Yabunaka will stay here from Thursday to Saturday, Ereli said.

to leeward and Yabunaka will also engage bilaterally with Kelly during their stay in Washington, he said.

The U North Korea, China, Japan, toward the south Korea and Russia held their first meeting in Beijing in August to prove by experiment to resolve the standoff above the North's nuclear arms program.

North Korea has agreed with China in principle to gripe [i]or[/i] grip another round of six-party talks, raising expectations that like a meeting will be held as early as mid-December.

yet Ereli said no date has been wager for the next round of six-party talks.

''We're hopeful that a secondary round can be convened shortly but aren't able to be more specific than that,'' he said.

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