South Korean, US officials to visit Japan for talks on North Korea ( 11:44 a.m.)

2006/11/5
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)

South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and two senior U.S. officials were set to arrive Sunday in Tokyo for strategic talks with Japanese leaders ahead of resumed six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program.

Ban, who is also the incoming U.N. secretary-general, was scheduled to meet his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso on Sunday evening, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.

He was expected to meet Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday.

Meanwhile, Robert Joseph, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, and R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, were also due to arrive in Tokyo on Sunday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said.

Officials from the three allied nations were expected to talk about coordinating U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea after its Oct. 9 nuclear test, and to discuss a strategy for handling the volatile communist state at renewed disarmament talks expected later this year.

North Korea agreed last week to return to the six-country disarmament negotiations _ which also include China, Russia, the U.S. and South Korea _ in the first easing of tension since the North's underground nuclear test last month.

Pyongyang said it would return to the talks to seek an end to a U.S.-led campaign blocking its access to international banks due to alleged illegal activity, such as counterfeiting and money laundering.

Washington had said it will discuss the financial restrictions only in the context of the six-nation talks.

But even as it agreed to return to talks, North Korea kept up its usual harsh rhetoric Saturday, denouncing U.S. leaders as "warmongers" and calling Japanese officials "political imbeciles" for saying they won't accept Pyongyang as a nuclear power.

The North also repeated its demand that Japan stay away from the six-party talks "because it is no more than a state of the U.S."

In a statement carried by the official Korea Central News Agency, or KCNA, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said most of the international community had welcomed Pyongyang's return to the talks.

"Only Japan ... expressed its wicked intention," said the statement, referring to Tokyo's stance that it will not accept a nuclear North Korea. "The Japanese authorities have thus clearly proved ... that they are political imbeciles."

Pyongyang also verbally attacked Washington in an editorial by the typically bellicose Rodong Sinmun newspaper, condemning the Americans as "fanatic warmongers who destroy peace and security on the Korean peninsula."

"The U.S. has become more fanatic in pushing for its war scheme to attack the North, taking issue with our war-deterrent measure we were compelled to strengthen to protect our sovereignty and right to survive from their serious threat," the editorial said.

The North often refers to its nuclear program as a self-defensive measure against the threat of a U.S. attack. Washington has repeatedly insisted it has no intention to attack.

North Korea's latest remarks came after the nation's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, said any progress at the revived talks on the communist nation's nuclear program will depend on the United States' "attitude," an indication a breakthrough could be difficult.

Reference : http://www.chinapost.com.tw