By Chung Min-uck
Seoul's chief nuclear envoy will meet with his American and Japanese counterparts in Washington next week to discuss how to deal with North Korea, according to an official at the Foreign Ministry, Friday.
When returning to Seoul from the United States, Cho Tae-yong, the newly-appointed special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, is also scheduled to stop in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei.
"Cho is scheduled to meet top nuclear envoys from the U.S. and Japan next week in Washington. But the exact date has yet to be fixed," said the ministry official. The representatives from the U.S. and Japan are Glyn Davies and Shinsuke Sugiyama, respectively.
Sources say the trilateral meeting will take place next Wednesday and the Seoul-Beijing talks will be held next Friday.
It will be the first high-level trilateral meeting between the three nations on North Korea since Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test in February which drew severe international criticism and prompted a new set of U.N. sanctions.
Tensions still remain high on the Korean Peninsula following aborted inter-Korean talks which were due to take place on Wednesday after Pyongyang made a surprise proposal for dialogue last week. Seoul accepted and the two Koreas agreed to hold their first high-level talks in six years. But this agreement unraveled at the last minute due to a dispute over differences in rank between the levels of the chief delegates.
The Foreign Ministry explained that Cho's meetings with representatives of the six-party nations were part of formal introductions following his appointment late last month, but observers believe that Seoul is seeking to put multilateral pressure on North Korea in a denuclearizing effort.
Issues to be discussed are the results of a recent meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which the two superpowers showed commitment to denuclearize North Korea, and the upcoming summit between President Park Geun-hye and Xi later this month.
On Friday, Park met with former Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and discussed the planned summit with Xi and issues related to North Korea. Tang is an expert on Korean issues who served as China's foreign minister from 1998 to 2003.
Park said she will use the summit with Xi to further bolster cooperation with Beijing to make Pyongyang realize that bad behavior will never be rewarded and that it has no other choice but to change course and become a responsible member of the international community by scrapping its nuclear programs.
Some say that Seoul's move aims to restart the long-stalled six-party talks because bilateral talks between the two Koreas are unlikely for the time being. Pyongyang showed willingness to take part in the talks when it sent a high-ranking envoy to Beijing last month.
The last six-way negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear program were held in December 2008.
Seoul's chief nuclear envoy will meet with his American and Japanese counterparts in Washington next week to discuss how to deal with North Korea, according to an official at the Foreign Ministry, Friday.
When returning to Seoul from the United States, Cho Tae-yong, the newly-appointed special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, is also scheduled to stop in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei.
"Cho is scheduled to meet top nuclear envoys from the U.S. and Japan next week in Washington. But the exact date has yet to be fixed," said the ministry official. The representatives from the U.S. and Japan are Glyn Davies and Shinsuke Sugiyama, respectively.
Sources say the trilateral meeting will take place next Wednesday and the Seoul-Beijing talks will be held next Friday.
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It will be the first high-level trilateral meeting between the three nations on North Korea since Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test in February which drew severe international criticism and prompted a new set of U.N. sanctions.
Tensions still remain high on the Korean Peninsula following aborted inter-Korean talks which were due to take place on Wednesday after Pyongyang made a surprise proposal for dialogue last week. Seoul accepted and the two Koreas agreed to hold their first high-level talks in six years. But this agreement unraveled at the last minute due to a dispute over differences in rank between the levels of the chief delegates.
The Foreign Ministry explained that Cho's meetings with representatives of the six-party nations were part of formal introductions following his appointment late last month, but observers believe that Seoul is seeking to put multilateral pressure on North Korea in a denuclearizing effort.
Issues to be discussed are the results of a recent meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which the two superpowers showed commitment to denuclearize North Korea, and the upcoming summit between President Park Geun-hye and Xi later this month.
On Friday, Park met with former Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and discussed the planned summit with Xi and issues related to North Korea. Tang is an expert on Korean issues who served as China's foreign minister from 1998 to 2003.
Park said she will use the summit with Xi to further bolster cooperation with Beijing to make Pyongyang realize that bad behavior will never be rewarded and that it has no other choice but to change course and become a responsible member of the international community by scrapping its nuclear programs.
Some say that Seoul's move aims to restart the long-stalled six-party talks because bilateral talks between the two Koreas are unlikely for the time being. Pyongyang showed willingness to take part in the talks when it sent a high-ranking envoy to Beijing last month.
The last six-way negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear program were held in December 2008.
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