S. Korea holds working-level talks with U.S. N. Korea policy coordination

South Korea held working-level talks with the U.S. as the two countries took steps to coordinate the direction of a looming U.S.-North meeting, sources said Saturday.

The talks, held on Friday between Cho Hyun-dong, deputy head of Seoul's six-way talks team, and Edgard Kagan, director of the Office of Korean Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, were designed to fine tune the two allies' stance on South Korea's meeting this past Wednesday in Beijing with North Korea on ending the North's nuclear weapons program.

During the talks, the South Korean and U.S. officials assessed the results of the recent inter-Korean meeting and discussed potential agenda items for the U.S.-North gathering expected to be held in early October, the sources from the foreign affairs ministry said.

The South Korean side expressed its willingness to closely cooperate and jointly respond with the U.S. in eliciting policy changes in the North's nuclear disarmament, the sources noted.

The United States and North Korea are seeking to hold the talks early next month to discuss terms for resuming the long-stalled six-nation negotiations on ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

The exact date and the venue of the talks have yet to be determined although the U.S. plans to hold them in the near future, the U.S. said at the Seoul meeting Friday.

European cities such as Berlin and Geneva as well as Singapore are being mentioned as candidate venues for the meeting. (Yonhap News)