Chief nuclear envoys of ROK, Japan meet

SEOUL - The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan met Thursday in Seoul over resuming the six-party nuclear negotiation and coordinating their policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Seoul's envoy to the six-party nuclear talks, Lim Seung-nam, met with his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama and discussed the state of affairs on the Korean peninsula after the death of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il on December 17, 2011, according to media reports.

The two also discussed reviving the long-stalled six-party talks, which involve the DPRK, South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan. The DPRK walked out of the talks, which was last held in 2008.

Thursday's meeting came ahead of three-way talks in Washington among Lim, Sugiyama and Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, which is slated for January 17.