U.S. to Send Senior Officials to Japan, China, S. Korea

Washington, Dec. 7 (Jiji Press)--The United States will send senior government officials to Japan, China and South Korea for discussions on the situation of North Korea, the Department of State said Tuesday.
In line with an agreement reached at Monday's meeting of the
Japanese, U.S. and South Korean foreign ministers, the senior U.S. officials will urge China to use its influence on North Korea to prevent Pyongyang from taking further provocative action.
The officials are Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, and Sung Kim, special envoy for six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
They will leave Washington on Dec. 14 and will first visit China.
Steinberg and Bader will stay in Beijing until Dec. 17, while
Campbell will visit Tokyo on Dec. 16 and Kim will proceed to Seoul on the same day.
After North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean island near the two countries' disputed border on Nov. 23, China proposed holding an emergency meeting of the top representatives to the six-party talks. It has objected to a move to step up pressure on the reclusive nation.
Meanwhile, Japan, the United States and South Korea are in accord that North Korea must first stop provocative behavior and change its attitude before dialogue is resumed within the six-party framework.
Japan is also set to send Akitaka Saiki, chief negotiator on North Korean issues, to Beijing and Moscow. Saiki is director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.