- Title: JAPAN: U.S. envoy visits Japan to discuss issues on North Korea.
- Date: 26th August 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 25, 2009) (REUTERS) AKITAKA SAIKI, JAPANESE ENVOY AND TOP NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR, AND PHILIP GOLDBERG, U.S. AMBASSADOR AND COORDINATOR FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION 1874, WALKING INTO CONFERENCE ROOM GOLDBERG SHAKING HANDS WITH VARIOUS OFFICIALS CONFERENCE WITH JAPANESE AND AMERICAN OFFICIALS SITTING AT A TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. AMBASSADOR AND COORDINATOR FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION 1874, PHILIP GOLDBERG, SAYING: "We are pleased to be here with our friends and allies and discuss a very important issue for security in northeast Asia, but also a global security issue, which is the nuclear program in North Korea." SAIKI SITTING CONFERENCE WITH BOTH SIDES SITTING
- Embargoed: 10th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Reuters ID: LVABMU6DTGIEEBJUTUL40BKYVZ6
- Story Text: U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg meets with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo to discuss North Korea issues.
U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, coordinator for implementation of the U.N. resolution 1874 on North Korea, met with Japanese counterpart in Tokyo on Tuesday (August 25) for talks on enforcing the punishments aimed at stamping out the North's arms trade, which estimates say provide it with at least hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Goldberg, who has been visiting his counterparts across Asia, held a bilateral meeting with Japan's top negotiator for North Korea, Akitaka Saiki and other Japanese officials as he sought Japan's continued support.
"We are pleased to be here with our friends and allies and discuss a very important issue for security in northeast Asia, but also a global security issue, which is the nuclear program in North Korea," said Goldberg.
North Korea faces sanctions aimed at curtailing its lucrative missile trade under U.N. resolutions adopted following the North's long-range rocket launch in April and nuclear test in May.
So far, the United States is holding firm to its stance that North Korea's only route to talking with Washington is through the six-party talks.
Washington wants the North to rejoin the United States in disarmament-for-aid talks that also include South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang considers these dead and wants only direct talks with the United States, which Washington refuses to conduct outside the six-party framework.
North Korea also appears to want to be recognized as a nuclear power -- a non-starter for its negotiating partners.
North Korea has lowered tensions with several gestures from releasing two jailed U.S. journalists and freeing a detained South Korean businessman to offering to reopen frozen North-South business and tourism ventures.
A high ranking North Korean delegation on Sunday (August 23) attended the funeral of a former South Korean president and delivered a message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to Seoul's President Lee Myung-bak, the first formal communication since Lee took office about 18 months ago.
And on Monday (August 24) South Korean media said Pyongyang had invited the U.S. official charged with managing relations with North Korea, Steven Bosworth, to visit the North next month for talks on its nuclear program.
But long-time observers of wily North Korean leader Kim Jong-il see only a tactical shift aimed at weakening international sanctions imposed after North Korea's nuclear weapons test in May. They say Kim's moves are in fact evidence that U.N. curbs on Pyongyang's finances are starting to bite.
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