Japan, the United States and South Korea wrapped up a two-day meeting here Friday by adopting a statement urging North Korea to let Japan and South Korea take part in three-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The three countries "agreed on the necessity of multilateral talks expanded to include other interested parties," the joint statement said, adding, "In particular, they agreed that the ROK (South Korea) and Japan have vital interests at stake and that their participation in multilateral talks is indispensable."
Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, James Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Lee Soo Hyuck, South Korean deputy foreign minister, took part in the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group talks.