Japan, China, S. Korea to discuss S. Korean ship sinking on weekend+

TOKYO, May 13 Kyodo -
The foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea will meet in South Korea
on Saturday for talks likely to focus on North Korea amid growing suspicion
about its role in the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March, Japanese
government officials said Thursday.
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada will head to the southern South Korean
city of Gyeongju on Saturday morning to attend the trilateral meeting, which
would also touch on regional economic cooperation and climate change issues.
Okada, who is scheduled to return to Japan on Sunday, will also hold bilateral
talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and his South Korean counterpart
Yu Myung Hwan on the sidelines of the event.
The meeting is aimed at laying the groundwork for a three-way summit that is
likely to be held later in the month. The focus would be on how the three Asian
countries participating in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear
ambitions would respond to the sinking amid suspicion that the North may have
been involved.
Sources close to the six-party talks have said that Japan, the United States
and South Korea agreed that there is a high possibility that an attack by North
Korea resulted in the sinking, which took place on March 26 near the sea border
with the North.
The three allies are also starting to consider how they will respond when the
outcome of the investigation into the incident is announced, possibly around
May 20.
Okada said last Friday that the six-party talks may become ''far away''
depending on the outcome of the investigation, suggesting a change in Japan's
stance of seeking an early resumption of the talks which also involve the two
Koreas, China, Russia, and the United States.
Meanwhile, Beijing has recently welcomed North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to
China and the two countries' leaders agreed that relevant parties in the
six-party talks should ''demonstrate sincerity and make positive efforts for
pushing forward the talks,'' which North Korea quit last year.
China's Yang is likely to ask Japan and South Korea to cooperate toward the
resumption of the stalled talks.
The last trilateral foreign ministers' meeting was held in Shanghai in
September last year.
==Kyodo
2010-05-13 23:23:23