TOKYO (Reuters) – Senior officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea will meet next week to discuss North Korean issues, the Japanese government said on Friday, amid signs the North has completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.
The meeting, scheduled for Sept. 7 in Tokyo, will follow another three-way gathering in Hawaii this week among national security advisers from the three countries.
South Korea’s national security adviser, Kim Sung-han, said after the Hawaii meeting that he and his counterparts had agreed there would not be a “soft” response if North Korea conducted a nuclear test. He did not give details, but the government has previously mentioned more sanctions.
Participants for the Tokyo meeting will include the U.S. envoy for North Korea Sung Kim, South Korea’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Gunn and director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Takehiro Funakoshi, the foreign ministry said.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)