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TOKYO, January 22. /TASS/. Japan will send head of Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Junichi Ihara to talk possible resumption of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear problem, Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Ihara will go to Moscow already on Thursday, foreign political agency said. He plans to hold several meetings with Russian top officials at a two-day visit.
Japanese Foreign Ministry also said diplomatic officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea will hold tripartite talks on the same issue in Japan’s capital Tokyo on January 28. Junichi Ihara is expected to head Japanese delegation at these talks. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim will represent the United States, Hwang Joon Kook will head South Korean delegation at six-way talks.
Six-party talks over North Korean nuclear and missile problems involving China, Russia, the US, South Korea and Japan were suspended in 2009 at Pyongyang’s initiative. Later North Korea stated repeatedly that the country was ready to resume talks, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo noted up to now that they do not find sound reasons for re-starting talks.