Park to hold summit talks with US, Chinese, Japanese leaders on Thursday

President Park Geun-hye will meet with the leaders of the United States, Japan and China later this week in Washington to coordinate how to deal with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

Park is set to hold separate meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, the South Korean presidential office said.

The three leaders are also set to hold a trilateral summit to discuss the sanctions imposed on North Korea and other outstanding issues. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have all slapped unilateral sanctions on North Korea.

Cheong Wa Dae said the three leaders will touch on how to best deal with Pyongyang's nuclear threats.

In 2014, Park met with Obama and Abe on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

Park is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.

The back-to-back summits come after the U.N. slapped tougher sanctions on North Korea for carrying out its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.

Tensions have also spiked on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea has issued a series of threats against South Korea in recent weeks in anger over Seoul's ongoing military drills with Washington.

Park has called for military readiness and overwhelming deterrence against North Korea.

The Nuclear Security Summit, set for Thursday and Friday, is meant to exchange opinions on the threats of nuclear terrorism and discuss ways to strengthen an international regime for nuclear safety.

The two-day gathering will be the final session of the summit, which has been held every two years since Obama hosted the inaugural summit in 2010. (Yonhap)