S.Korea, US, Japan to discuss Pyongyang

Seoul April 17 (IANS) Senior defence officials from South Korea the US and Japan will hold talks on North Korea on Wednesday Seoul authorities announced on Monday.

The regional powers plan to hold the Defence Trilateral Talks (DTT) in Tokyo the ninth session of the forum launched in 2008 according to South Korea s Ministry of National Defence.

It would be the first set of talks since the launch of US President Donald Trump s administration and seek to put more pressure on Pyongyang over its development of weapons of mass destruction Yonhap News Agency reported.

In the upcoming meeting the ministry added the three sides will discuss partnerships against North Korea s nuclear and missile threats and various ways for cooperation including military exchanges among them.

South Korea will be represented by Wee Seung-ho Deputy Minister for Policy.

His American and Japanese counterparts will be David F. Helvey Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs and Satoshi Maeda Director General for Defence Policy.

--IANS
ksk/vt