Japan, U.S., S. Korea agree to continue cooperating on N. Korea

PHUKET, Thailand, July 22 Kyodo - Japan on Wednesday agreed separately with the United States and South Korea on the need for close cooperation on a bilateral and trilaterally basis in dealing
with the North Korean nuclear issue, while highlighting in talks with China the important role Beijing can play as a close ally of Pyongyang, Japanese officials said.

But despite a series of bilateral talks held between the top diplomats on the
sidelines of meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in
Thailand, Japan, the United States and South Korea apparently fell short of
working out concrete details on how to resume the stalled six-party talks aimed
at denuclearizing North Korea.
In a meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two affirmed the need to promote
cooperation among the so-called five parties -- Japan, the United States, South
Korea, China and Russia -- in order to achieve a breakthrough in the six-party
talks which also involve North Korea.
Nakasone, however, denied any concrete prospects for a meeting of the five
parties.
''In holding five-party talks, it would be important to have communication
between two parties, or three parties. When we convene (such a meeting), we
must make it one that has an outcome,'' Nakasone told reporters after separate
talks with Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Nakasone also met with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan and both
agreed that the five countries should take a ''joint response'' and that there
is a need to take a ''comprehensive'' approach in engaging in negotiations with
North Korea to make the country fully implement agreements reached at the
six-party talks, one of the Japanese officials said.
But the official said that the two did ''not go into details'' and simply
affirmed the need to hold discussions between Japan and South Korea as well as
with the United States on how to proceed with such an approach.
Nakasone said he told Yang that he would like China to ''steadily fulfill its
role as the chair'' of the moribund six-party talks to achieve a resumption of
the multilateral negotiations.
China has been cautious about holding talks involving only the five parties due
to concern about possibly provoking North Korea and giving it an excuse not to
return to the six-party talks, according to senior Japanese Foreign Ministry
officials.
North Korea has said it will not participate in the six-way talks in protest at
a U.N. Security Council statement condemning its rocket launch in April, which
was widely seen as a disguised missile test. The North also conducted its
second nuclear test in May.
Meanwhile, Nakasone said to Yang that Japan is seriously concerned over recent
moves by Chinese vessels around one of a string of disputed gas fields in the
East China Sea. Last week, Nakasone voiced concern that the Chinese vessels may
have been carrying materials for future development of the Chunxiao gas field,
known as Shirakaba in Japan.
As part of an agreement reached last year over gas exploration projects in the
East China Sea, China welcomed investment by Japanese corporations in the
project at the gas field.