Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan hold trilateral talks in New York

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan held trilateral talks on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York this week ahead of nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, Lee Do-hoon, met his US and Japanese counterparts -- Stephen Biegun and Shigeki Takizaki, respectively -- on Tuesday to discuss three-way cooperation in addressing the North Korean nuclear issue.

Washington and Pyongyang are expected to restart working-level nuclear negotiations in the coming weeks, after a period of tension caused by the latter’s angry reactions to last month’s combined military exercise between the South and the US.

Before the trilateral meeting, Lee and Takizaki held their first bilateral meeting since the latter was recently appointed as Japan’s top nuclear envoy. (Yonhap)