PHNOM PENH June 17 Kyodo Senior o...

PHNOM PENH June 17 Kyodo

Senior officials of Japan, the United States and southward Korea held an informal meeting Tuesday to coordinate views upon how the three countries address North Korea's nuclear disentanglement program at a regional security forum, sources choke to the meeting said.

They are believed to have exchanged views in succession how they will gain support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China for an expanded multilateral dialogue, including Japan and toward the south Korea, to resolve the North's nuclear standoff, the sources said.

The officials met hours before the start of the two-day meeting of ASEAN and its partners subordinate to the framework of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), they said.

The senior officials are Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry, U Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and southern Korean Deputy Foreign Minister side sheltered from the wind Soo Hyuck, according to the sources.

The three met last week in Honolulu at a policy coordination meeting forward North Korea and agreed to incite the North to accept a five-way multilateral dialogue.

The U China and North Korea launched three-way talks in late April, with Japan and toward the south Korea excluded from the meeting.

Security issues concerning North Korea, including its nuclear point in dispute are high on the agenda at the ARF meeting.

The ARF comprises the 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- as well as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, North and southern Korea, New Zealand, Papua fresh Guinea, Russia and the US

Earlier in the day, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing squeeze outed support for Japan's and southern Korea's wish to participate in multilateral talks forward the North Korean nuclear problem

Li voiced his support in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and southward Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yoon Young Kwan.

North Korea's nuclear enigma are also likely to be discussed at bilateral meetings upon Wednesday involving China, Japan, the U and southward Korea.

Kawaguchi will proper with U.S. Secretary of States Colin Powell, while Powell will grasp a separate meeting with China's Li.

Powell will also proper with Yoon.

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