Japan, U.S. envoys to reaffirm common stance on N. Korea

TOKYO, March 5 Kyodo - Stephen Bosworth, the new U.S. special representative for policy on North
Korea, and Japan's chief delegate at the six-party talks Akitaka Saiki met
Thursday for their first talks to reaffirm close cooperation over the North's
nuclear and missile programs.

Saiki, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs
Bureau, plans to coordinate a common stance with Bosworth among Tokyo,
Washington and Seoul on pressing Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program
under the stalled six-way talks, and discuss how to prevent a missile launch by
the North.
Saiki also plans to ask Bosworth at the talks for details of the new U.S.
administration's North Korea policy and personnel arrangements to ensure smooth
bilateral coordination, a senior ministry official said earlier.
U.S. President Barack Obama dispatched Bosworth to Asia this week to consult
with partners in the stalled six-party talks on the issues of the North's
nuclear and missile programs, and to gather opinions as Washington reviews its
North Korea policy.
Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current dean of the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, arrived in Tokyo from
Beijing earlier on Thursday.
In the Chinese capital, the first leg of his Asia trip, Bosworth reiterated
warnings that North Korea should refrain from a missile launch by saying
Wednesday after meetings with senior Chinese officials that Washington and
Beijing both believe such a launch would be ''not a good idea.''
North Korea has declared that it is ready to put into space the
Kwangmyongsong-2 experimental communications satellite. It says the satellite
will be carried by the launch vehicle Unha-2, which outside experts view as a
redesigned Taepodong-2 missile.
Japan and the United States see no distinction between a missile launch and
what the North says would be the launching of a satellite.
Both Tokyo and Washington hold that any such a launch would be a violation of
existing U.N. Security Council resolutions and would increase tensions
unnecessarily.
Japanese officials have also said Tokyo will seek additional sanctions against
North Korea should it carry out the launch.
The denuclearization talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan,
Russia and the United States have been stalled since December due to
differences over ways to verify North Korea's nuclear activities.
==Kyodo