Japan, the United States and Mongolia are considering holding their first trilateral foreign ministerial talks in a bid to tap into Mongolia's close ties with North Korea and settle a host of issues involving Pyongyang, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
By drawing Mongolia into a multilateral framework, Japan and the United States hope that Mongolia can play a role in helping resume the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program and making progress on the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, the sources said.
The six-party dialogue, aimed at ending the reclusive country's nuclear ambitions, has been deadlocked since late 2008. The talks involve the two Koreas, Japan, China, the United States and Russia.