Japan and North Korea held a "secret" meeting in Vietnam in July without informing the United States, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Shigeru Kitamura, head of Japan's Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, and a senior North Korean official in charge of reunification, Kim Song Hye, attended the talks, the newspaper said.
Senior U.S. officials expressed irritation that Japan was not forthright about the meeting despite Washington's near-constant updates to Tokyo on its dealings with North Korea, it said.