Japan, South Korea and the United States agreed today to press North Korea to draft a document showing how it will carry out a slow-moving disarmament deal, officials said.
US envoy Christopher Hill met Japanese nuclear negotiator Akitaka Saiki and his South Korean counterpart Kim Sook here to prepare for planned six-party nuclear talks on Monday in Beijing.
The three agreed to seek a document on a framework for the practical verification of Pyongyang's denuclearisation when they meet their counterparts from North Korea, China and Russia next week, Japanese officials said.
"There should be no room for misunderstanding or distortion when we actually begin verification," Saiki told a joint news conference.
"The six parties must agree to specify exactly what we are supposed to do in the form of documents," he said. "We have agreed on this basic point."
Hill is also expected to meet his North Korean counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, in Singapore later this week.
"It's our hope that the DPRK (North Korea) will come to understand, as many countries in the world have come to understand, that their security lies in having good relations with all of their neighbours, rather than in a unilateral arsenal of their own," Hill said.
He said the United States, Japan and South Korea were united on the need to improve strained ties in the region.
"The three of us have a very strong and broad understanding of the need to create better relations among states in the region, and I hope the six-party process can take this forward into the future," Hill said.
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