U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss North Korea in a meeting with the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers on Monday, CNN reported.
The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers have not been invited to the meeting, despite being members of the six-party talks on North Korea.
A senior State Department official told the channel that the meeting was meant to bring the three "cornerstones of security in the region," adding that "China should not view this as a snub."
Clinton will hold separate bilateral talks with Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara before opening the three-party talks.
Tensions escalated in the region in mid-November when North Korea launched artillery fire at a South Korean island, injuring four soldiers and provoking a retaliatory attack from the South.
The sides will also the perceived threat from North Korea's nuclear program. The secretive state recently revealed the existence of a new uranium enrichment plant.
North Korea pulled out of talks with Russia, Japan, China, the United States and South Korea over its nuclear program last April after the United Nations condemned the communist state's missile tests.
North Korea wants the talks to resume but the United States has refused, insisting that Pyongyang show it is serious about ending provocations and the development of its nuclear program.
On Wednesday, South Korea and the United States concluded four-day joint naval drills to the west of the Korean peninsula in a show of force to deter the North from launching further attacks across its disputed maritime border with the South.
The United States have also launched large-scale joint military exercises with Japan off Japan's southern island of Okinawa.
MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti)
