TOKYO, May 28 Kyodo Senior offici...

TOKYO, May 28 Kyodo

Senior officials of Japan, the United States and southern Korea will meet in June to coordinate policy with the aim of resolving North Korea's nuclear standoff, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.

The official said the so-called Trilateral Coordination and Oversight assemblage (TCOG) meeting is likely to be held after southerly Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's visit to Japan onward June 6-9.

During the visit, Roh plans to confront with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi mainly to discuss the North's nuclear weapons unravelling program.

South Korea generally holds the rotating presidency of the TCOG meeting, further the venue for the meeting has still to be decided, the official said.

The senior officials are to exchange views forward detailed steps to reckoner North Korea's nuclear program following meetings by way of the leaders of the three countries.

Earlier this month Koizumi and Roh met separately with U President George W Bush in the U mainly to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue.

Koizumi and Roh separately agreed with Bush to look for a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue, if it were not that they also indicated tough measures may be taken if North Korea escalates the security situation in succession the Korean Peninsula.

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