3 nations plan consultation body

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, center, holds hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba before a trilateral meeting at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday. / Yonhap

South Korea, the United States and Japan will launch a consultation body based in Washington D.C. to facilitate trilateral cooperation, their top diplomats announced Thursday amid persisting concerns over North Korea.

The announcement was made by Foreign Minister Kim Sung-whan and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Hillary Clinton and Koichiro Gemba, after trilateral talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh.

“The ministers acknowledged the further need for developing trilateral cooperation, based on common interests, for promoting peace, prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond,” the statement said.

“Toward this end, the ministers announced the formation of a working-level steering group, based in Washington D.C., to facilitate trilateral cooperation,” it said.

Washington has encouraged greater cooperation, as well as tighter ties between Seoul and Tokyo, in recent years in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat and provocative behavior.

Analysts say the push by Washington is tied not only to provocations from Pyongyang­ which twice attacked the South in 2010 ­ but also bolsters its presence in the region as China builds its economic and military clout.

Despite shared concerns over the nuclear-armed North, Seoul-Tokyo ties are often snared by longstanding historical disputes stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the peninsula. The two are considered key allies to Washington, which maintains significant troop levels in both countries.

Pyongyang in April launched a long-range rocket in defiance of the international community. Though it appears to have stepped back from a possible nuclear test to make up for the failed launch, tensions remain taut.

In the statement, the top diplomats also urged North Korea “to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs including uranium enrichment in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program.”

The ministers warned Pyongyang that, “Any provocation by North Korea, including another nuclear test or missile launch, will be met with a resolute and coordinated response from the international community.”

The three nations are part of stalled six-party talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program that also include the North, Russia and China.

Seoul and Washington want Pyongyang to halt its provocations and take denuclearization steps before any resumption of negotiations. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>

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