South Korea Park to hold talks with United States, Chinese, Japanese leaders

South Korea's President Park Geun-hye will meet with the leaders of the United States, Japan and China later this week in Washington to coordinate how to deal with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday, according to Yonhap News.

The back-to-back summits come after the U.N. Security Council slapped tougher sanctions on North Korea for carrying out its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7. 

Park is set to hold separate meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, the South Korean presidential office said. 

The three leaders are also set to hold a trilateral summit to discuss the sanctions imposed on North Korea and other outstanding issues. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have all slapped unilateral sanctions on North Korea. 

"The three leaders are expected to have in-depth consultations on how to deal with the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear program," said Kim Kyou-hyun, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs. 

Park is also scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington in their first face-to-face meeting since North Korea carried out the fourth nuclear test. 

Park and Xi are expected to exchange in-depth opinions on the faithful implementation of the U.N. sanctions and how to strengthen bilateral communication on North Korea and its nuclear program, said Kim.

Source : MENA