Japan, US officials agree to closely work on DPRK

An official from the Japanese Foreign Ministry met here Thursday with visiting U.S. special representative on Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) policy Glyn Davies and both sides agreed to work closely on the DPRK, reported local media. After the meeting between Davies and Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the two officials agreed on the importance of closely coordinating moves among Japan, the United States and South Korea to bring the DPRK back into the denuclearization process in the Korean Peninsula, according to Japan's Kyodo News. The two also agreed that the door of dialogue with the DPRK is always open. As to the current DPRK visit by Isao Iijima, an advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Davies said that the United States had not been told in advance, adding that he hopes to get more details and the outcome of the visit from the Japanese government. Davies, who arrived in Tokyo Thursday, was on an Asia trip which already took him to Seoul and Beijing.