Diplomats here to talk
about nukes in N. Korea
Developments on the Korean peninsula, including the standoff over North Korea's claim to have a nuclear weapons program, are expected to be discussed in Waikiki today and tomorrow by diplomats from South Korea, Japan and the United States.
The closed-door meetings at the Hilton Hawaiian Village by the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group are part of a regular series of meetings held about four times each year.
At the conclusion of tomorrow's meeting, the three sides will issue a joint statement, said a U.S. State Department spokesman, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.
The U.S. delegation will be led by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck leads the South Korea group, while Japan is represented by Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of Japan's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.
Following the group's meeting Jan. 7 in Washington, D.C., a joint statement called upon North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, which, the group said, "constitutes a violation of its international commitments."
The three governments "stressed that North Korea's relations with the entire international community hinge on its taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program and come into full compliance with its international nuclear commitments," according to the statement.
The nuclear crisis flared in October when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted to running a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 accord. It provoked regional tensions.
Pyongyang agreed to talks with Washington about the dispute at a meeting in China in late April but refused to let Japan and South Korea participate.
Earlier this week, North Korea threatened to build nuclear weapons as a deterrent to what it called a "hostile" U.S. policy. It was the communist government's first public declaration of its nuclear ambitions.
U.S. officials say the North Koreans told them privately in April that the country already has nuclear bombs and plans to build more -- but until now Pyongyang had not openly stated its intention to develop an arsenal.
The trilateral group meeting in Honolulu precedes Secretary of State Colin Powell's attendance next week at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Cambodia.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong said North Korean officials told him North Korea's Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun decided not to attend the regional security meeting.
Cambodia was hoping the meeting would provide the opportunity for substantial negotiations between the United States and North Korea on the communist state's nuclear weapons plans.
The regional forum was established by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to discuss security issues with other countries in the region.