(LEAD) S. Korea, Japan agree to bolster intelligence-sharing on N. Korea

(ATTN: RECASTS lead to clarify official position on N. Korean nuclear arms; ADDS
comment by Japanese FM in penultimate para, detail on meeting in last para)

SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea met with the
visiting Japanese foreign minister Thursday and agreed to bolster
intelligence-sharing on their communist neighbor holding on to nuclear arms
ambitions, the Unification Ministry said.
Noting the North Korean nuclear threat goes beyond the divided Korean Peninsula,
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told South Korean Unification Minister
Hyun In-taek that a "coordinated response" is key to denuclearizing North Korea,
the ministry said.
"Okada said the North Korean nuclear problem is an important issue affecting
Japan's national security, and that he will press to quickly resolve it," the
ministry said in a statement.
"The sides have agreed to work closely in sharing intelligence that is needed
with regard to the North Korean problem," it said.
The meeting came after Okada met earlier in the day with South Korean Foreign
Minister Yu Myung-hwan and agreed to tighten cooperation between the sides in
dealing with North Korea.
South Korea and Japan are members of the six-nation talks that seek to strip
North Korea of its nuclear arms programs through political and economic
incentives. The talks, which also include the United States, Russia and China,
have been stalled since late 2008, but a recent flurry of diplomatic activity in
the region suggests Pyongyang may be warming up to rejoin the negotiations amid
U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test in May last year.
"But we hope such contacts (with North Korea) will lead to a positive movement
toward the resumption of the six-party talks," Okada told a press conference.
Okada, who also exchanged views on South Korea's policy toward the North with
Hyun, was scheduled to return home later Thursday following his meetings with
President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, according to officials.
(END)

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