DPRK, Japan hold talks on relations in Mongolia

Government officials from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan started a two-day meeting to improve ties here on Thursday. The Mongolian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the DPRK delegation was headed by Song Il-Ho, ambassador in charge of normalization of relations with Japan, and the Japanese delegation was led by Shinsuke Sugiyama, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau. The ministry also said Mongolia brokered the meeting to help ensure stability in Northeast Asia, adding Mongolia believed the meeting was conducive to normalizing relations between the DPRK and Japan and deepening mutual understanding. The meeting was held at the Ikh Tenger Complex, which also serves as a residence for Mongolia's state leaders. This is the second time Mongolia has hosted such a meeting, having previously discussed normalization of relations here in 2007. The meeting has drawn much attention from media home and abroad, especially from Japan. But the meeting, except for its opening, has been closed to the media.