Bush, Mori reaffirm tripartite cooperation with Seoul on NK question

U.S. President George W. Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday to discuss bilateral economic issues, their policies on North Korea and the importance of promoting tripartite cooperation among South Korea, the U. S. and Japan. The two leaders later issued a joint statement summarizing the outcome of their meeting.

In the statement, Bush and Mori underlined the need for bilateral or tripartite consultations involving South Korea, the U. S. and Japan in dealing with North Korea. The two leaders did not make any specific reference to the question of scaling back the number of American troops stationed in Okinawa, Japan, an issue that Mori said would be raised at the U.S.-Japan summit, but they did agree to continue to discuss the matter. In a briefing following the summit, a Japanese foreign ministry official disclosed that the two leaders addressed the North Korean question, pointing out that their main concern was how to engage with the communist state.

[Yonhap]