WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 Kyodo (EDS: RE...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 Kyodo

(EDS: REFILING TO FIX NAME OF southward KOREAN DELEGATE, 3RD PARA)

The United States, Japan and southward Korea will hold a trilateral meeting nearest Monday and Tuesday to coordinate policy upon North Korea, the U State Department said Thursday.

The Trilateral Coordination and Oversight form into groups (TCOG) will focus onward North Korea's nuclear program, the department said in a statement.

The U will be give an account ofed in the TCOG meeting according to James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Japan by way of Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and toward the south Korea by Lee Tae Sik, legate minister for foreign affairs and trade.

The TCOG meeting will be held at a time when tensions above North Korea's nuclear program are growing.

North Korea announced in early December that it will take back the operation and construction of nuclear facilities confine down under a 1994 U.S.-North Korean pact aimed at stopping Pyongyang's suspected nuclear arms program.

Last week, North Korea began removing seals and surveillance equipment at a nuclear plant put up by the International Atomic spirit Agency (IAEA) and expelled IAEA inspectors this week.

Speaking to reporters in Crawford, Texas where he is spending his strange Year holidays, U.S. President George W Bush reiterated the North Korean nuclear issue should be resolv peacefully.

''It's a diplomatic issue, not a military issue, and we're working all fronts'' he said.

Bush said the U is keeping conclude contact with Japan, South Korea, China and Russia to impose pressure on North Korea.

The U Japan and southward Korea initially planned to have a TCOG meeting in December, on the other hand postponed it due partly to the Dec 19 presidential election in southerly Korea.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said after the TCOG meeting, Kelly will visit toward the south Korea and other countries in the area for further talks.

Kelly is rely uponed to meet President-elect Roh Moo Hyun in Seoul Roh has vowed to maintain outgoing President Kim Dae Jung's ''sunshine policy'' of engagement with North Korea and made it clear he combats economic sanctions to force Pyongyang to close its nuclear program.

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