Senior U.S. officials to visit Japan, China, S. Korea next week

Two senior U.S. State Department officials will visit Japan, China and South Korea next week to prepare for resumption of the six-party talks on resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, the department said on Thursday.

Undersecretaries of State Nicholas Burns and Robert Joseph are due to leave for Tokyo on Sunday, hold talks there Monday, and then meet in Beijing next Tuesday and Wednesday with Chinese and Russian officials, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The two U.S. top diplomats will also have meetings with South Korean officials in Seoul next Thursday.

During their northeastern Asia trip, Burns and Joseph will consult on "how to create the right conditions, the best atmosphere, to prepare for this next round of six-party talks ... in order to make it an effective round, so that we start to see progress using the Sept. 19 (2005) joint statement as the starting point," McCormack said.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution in mid-October on the nuclear test conducted by the DPRK.

The resolution, cosponsored by the United States and eight other nations, condemned the nuclear test proclaimed by the DPRK, demanded the DPRK eliminate its nuclear weapons and nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and imposed sanctions on the DPRK in spheres related to its nuclear, ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Xinhua