LEAD: Japan, U.S., S. Korea begin prep meeting for 6-way talks

Japan Policy & Politics, August 18, 2003

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE QUOTES, INFO)

Japan, the United States and South Korea began two days of talks Wednesday in Washington to coordinate their policies and prepare for negotiations with North Korea at planned six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.

Senior officials from the three countries are believed to be discussing a comprehensive set of proposals to be put forward during the six-party talks in a bid to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

''Discussions are part of our continuing very close consultations with our South Korean and Japanese allies,'' a State Department spokesman told reporters.

The meeting ''reflected our mutual desire to coordinate respective positions and work together to achieve our shared goal for a verifiable and irreversible end of North Korea's nuclear weapons program,'' he said.

The first-day session began in the afternoon and was followed by a working dinner.

The spokesman did not go into specifics of the meeting.

Japan, the U.S. and South Korea are considering a package of measures for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue, including providing North Korea with a security guarantee and economic assistance if it dismantles its nuclear weapons programs.

They are expected to finalize the package and discuss how to present it to North Korea during the six-way talks scheduled to be held in Beijing on Aug. 27-29. The upcoming Beijing talks will bring together the U.S., North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Participants in the Washington meeting include Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and Lee Soo Hyuck, South Korean deputy foreign minister.

U.S. President George W. Bush voiced hopes Wednesday that the six-way talks will pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear standoff.

''I think we can deal with this issue in a peaceful way, and we're making good progress,'' Bush told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where he is taking a summer vacation at his ranch.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated readiness to provide economic assistance to North Korea if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons programs.

''The president has said many times that he is concerned about the welfare of the North Korean people,'' Powell said. ''It concerns him that people are in need and starving, and that something can be done about it.''

But Powell added that ''We have put no economic proposals forward at the moment.''

In the preparatory gathering in Washington, Japan plans to seek support from the U.S. and South Korea on raising the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea during the six-party talks.

But China, which will host the upcoming talks, has shown reluctance about making the abduction issue a major agenda item.

Japan, the U.S. and South Korea are also expected to discuss the continuation of a project by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to build two light-water nuclear reactors and a U.N. Security Council statement to denounce North Korea's nuclear arms programs.

They are expected to confirm that they will reach a conclusion on these issues after seeing the results of the six-party talks.

KEDO is an international consortium in charge of implementing a 1994 U.S.-North Korean pact, which requires Pyongyang to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear facilities in exchange for the construction of two light-water nuclear reactors and an interim supply of oil.

The current crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions began after last October, when the U.S. said Pyongyang had admitted to running a secret program to enrich uranium for use in weapons.

Last December, KEDO stopped fuel-oil shipments to North Korea.

As part of efforts to boost international pressure on North Korea to scrap its nuclear arms programs, the U.S. is hoping the chairman of the U.N. Security Council will adopt a statement denouncing the North's activities.