Japan, the United States and South Korea on Thursday reaffirmed the importance of close coordination among the three countries in formulating policy for North Korea and pushed for an early visit to Seoul by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

At a regular consultation meeting in Tokyo, officials of the three governments welcomed a recent proposal by North Korea for resumption of Cabinet-level meetings between North and South Korea, a Foreign Ministry official said.

In response to Pyongyang's call, the South Korean government on Thursday made a counterproposal to hold the talks in Seoul from Sept. 15 to 18. No official contact between the North and South has been made since March.

The trilateral meeting was attended by Kunihiko Makita, head of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, James Kelly, assistant U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Yim Sung Joon.

The officials said in a joint news release that they "reiterated the importance of the continued efforts by the South and North toward the steady implementation of the South-North Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000," referring to a historic meeting of leaders of the two Koreas last year.

They also urged the North to take steps to "address the concerns of the international community," such as its suspected nuclear and missile development and alleged abductions of Japanese citizens.

Kelly explained that Washington was ready to resume talks with North Korea "without setting any preconditions," and that it was waiting for a positive response from Pyongyang, the official said.

The U.S. and North Korea saw a major thaw in relations last year when former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang, but no official talks have been held since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in January.

Normalization talks between Japan and North Korea have also been stalled since last fall. With no prospect for early resumption of talks, the Japanese delegation only said that Japan "would continue to make steady efforts" toward normalization talks.

Separately, the ministry announced Thursday that Japan will send a fact-finding mission of ministry officials and lawmakers next week to monitor distribution of Japan's rice aid to North Korea. Japan agreed in October to send 500,000 tons of rice to the impoverished communist regime.

The three countries plan to hold the next round of consultation within a few months in South Korea, the official said.