Japan, US, S. Korea discuss N. Korea

Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to keep urging the new leadership of North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, Japan''s NHK website reported Wednesday. Senior officials of the three allies were meeting in Washington on Tuesday. They are US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Japanese Foreign Ministry Director General Shinsuke Sugiyama, and South Korea''s top nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam. The trilateral talks are the first by senior diplomats since the death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The US State Department said the diplomats agreed to keep telling North Korea that relations can improve through dialogue. Sugiyama told reporters that they agreed completely on the importance of progress in inter-Korean relations and on resolving the issue of civilian abductions by the North. He said they also talked about seeking more cooperation from China. The diplomats agreed to hold foreign ministers'' talks on North Korea as soon as possible.