ROK-US-Japan`s North Korea Policy Coordination Meeting

South Korea, the US and Japan are scheduled to hold a meeting of the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) in Tokyo, Japan, November 8-9 to discuss North Korea`s nuclear weapons program with enriched uranium.

The three nations will exchange views about whether to suspend the provision of hard oil to North Korea and to abandon the 1994 Geneva nuclear accord or not in earnest at this meeting.

It is said that The South Korean government will convey its position that even if the North does not show any change in its attitude, the provision of hard oil and the two light water reactors to Pyongyang should not be stopped considering the possible side effects that the suspension of those projects will bring.

As for this issue, an official with the government said, "The final decision on whether to stop providing hard oil to N.K. will be made at a directors` meeting of the Korea Energy Development Organization slated for the 14th in New York, the U.S."

At the TCOG meeting, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly and Hitoshi Tanaka, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry`s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau are expected to participate.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com