By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Chief nuclear negotiators from the United States and North Korea are likely to discuss the fate of Japanese citizens allegedly abducted by Pyongyang during the Cold War era, when they meet in Beijing this week, a South Korean diplomatic source said Sunday.
The move is part of U.S. efforts to soothe the concerns of Japan, a key member of the six-party talks aimed at ridding the North of its nuclear weapons program, before starting the process of removing Pyongyang from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism in return for the communist state's forthcoming nuclear declaration, the source said.
The six-party talks involve the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill is scheduled to visit the Chinese capital for three days from Tuesday to meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan for talks on the resumption of a fresh round of the six-party talks and Pyongyang's submission of a full list of its nuclear inventory to China, the host nation for the six-way forum.