US diplomats to visit Japan, China, S Korea

Washington, Nov 2: Two top US diplomats will visit Japan, China and South Korea next week to prepare for a resumption of six-party negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear program, the State Department said today.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph, traveling together, are tentatively scheduled to be in Tokyo on Sunday and Monday, in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, and in Seoul on Thursday.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters the diplomats were expected to meet Russian officials during their visit to Beijing and to return to Washington on November 10.

McCormack said the trip, whose outlines were announced by US President George W Bush yesterday, was designed to ensure the implementation of a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea after its October 9 nuclear test as well as to prepare the ground for fresh six-party talks.

North Korea this week agreed to resume the talks, which include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. In September 2005, North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic, diplomatic and energy incentives from the other parties.

However, it began to back away from that agreement soon after it was reached and refused to attend the six-party talks for nearly a year.

McCormack said the two US diplomats would consult on ''how to create the right conditions, the best atmosphere, to prepare for this next round of six-party talks ... in order to make it an effective round, so that we start to see progress using the September 19 (2005) joint statement as the starting point.'' ''We don't want to go backwards, we want go forwards. We don't want this just to be about (talks), we want it to be about getting some concrete, positive outcomes,'' he added.

He said he did not expect the US diplomats to meet North Korean officials during their trip.

Reuters

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