Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung agreed in their talks in Seoul May 29 that the two nations should coordinate their policies toward North Korea. Mori and Kim also concurred that the North-South Korea summit in Pyongyang, which begins June 12, and the ongoing Japan-North Korea talks on diplomatic normalization will contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Mori also hoped to obtain some Asian views from Kim to be used at the Group of Eight summit to be held in southern Japan in July.
Japan, South Korea and the United States are already coordinating policies toward North Korea. G8 support, if given, would strengthen the trilateral policy of coordination. Kim reportedly told Mori that he was hoping to obtain strong G8 support for plans to remove the vestiges of the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula and to promote peaceful coexistence between North and South Korea.