Japanese, DPRK Foreign Ministers to Hold First Ever Meeting

Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have agreed to hold a first-ever meeting between their foreign ministers this month in Bangkok, Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Tuesday.

The two countries also agreed to resume "as early as possible" their postponed second round of talks on normalizing ties, Kono told a press conference.

"The two nations still need to make some arrangements to set the date for the normalization talks ... but I want to set it through the ministerial meeting," Kono said.

Kono said the two countries also agreed to resume swiftly a meeting between their respective Red Cross societies on humanitarian issues and the postponed third round of homecoming visits by Japanese wives of DPRK people.

Japanese government officials said the two countries reached the agreements through informal contacts when Kunihiko Makita, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Bureau, visited Beijing between Saturday and Monday.

Under the accord, Kono and DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun are expected to meet on July 26 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum meeting to be held in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Senior Japanese and DPRK negotiators met in April in Pyongyang, resuming normalization talks which collapsed in 1992. A second round set for late May in Tokyo was postponed.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/