Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to hold foreign ministerial talks this weekend to reaffirm their cooperation in tackling North Korea's nuclear and missile development, diplomatic sources said.
Arrangements are being made for their foreign ministers to meet Saturday on the fringes of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meetings from Friday through Sunday in Myanmar, the sources said Thursday.
Through their talks, Japan wants to dispel U.S. and South Korean concerns that Tokyo's approach to Pyongyang over the long-stalled issue of abductions of Japanese nationals could undermine coordinated action among the three countries, the sources said.
The concerns stem from Japan's policy of gradually lifting its unilateral sanctions on North Korea depending on progress in a fresh round of investigations into cases of Japanese it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.
The meeting of Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se would be their first foreign ministerial talks since July last year in Brunei.
They are expected to confirm that North Korea's recent launches of short-range ballistic missiles were intolerable and urge Pyongyang to take concrete steps to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, the sources said.
Kishida will also brief his U.S. and South Korean counterparts about Pyongyang's abduction investigation and ask their support for Japan's approach, the sources said.
There is no schedule yet for a one-on-one meeting between Kishida and Yun, reflecting the poor relations between Japan and South Korea due mainly to the issue of women who were forced to work at Japan's wartime military brothels, euphemistically referred to as "comfort women" in Japan.
Kishida, who flew to Myanmar on Friday, will hold separate talks with Kerry while exploring the possibility of meeting individually with Yun as well, the sources said.