TOKYO, July 12 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Fesyun) - The United States, Japan and South Korea are set to hold a bilateral meeting in Beijing prior to the renewed six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear problem.
The sides will work out a common position on the nuclear program and discuss the threat of the North Korean ballistic missiles and the fate of the Japanese who were kidnapped by the DPRK special services, Japan's Nihon Keizai daily reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, currently in Japan, is scheduled to discuss the same issues with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.
The fourth round of the talks on the North Korean nuclear problem involving the U.S., North and South Korea, Russia, China and Japan will open in Beijing July 27, a Japanese source said.
The talks, which began in Beijing in 2003, aim to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear program. No agreement has been reached yet.
The fourth round, scheduled for 2004 was cancelled as Pyongyang accused the United States of threatening North Korea.
In February 2005, North Korea announced for the first time that it has nuclear weapons.
