TOKYO - JAPAN called on Saturday for cooperation on ending North Korea's nuclear drive as its foreign minister held rare joint talks with regional powers China and South Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, China's Yang Jiechi and Yu Myung Hwan of South Korea held only the second-ever three-way meeting among the countries, whose relations have sometimes been uneasy.

The talks came a day after a surprise thaw in relations between Japan and North Korea, which agreed to start a new probe into an emotive row over the kidnappings of Japanese civilians.

North Korea missed a deadline to declare all of its nuclear programmes by the end of last year as part of the agreement, which was signed by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

'It's important North Korea make a full-fledged declaration early,' Mr Komura told South Korea's Yu, as quoted by a Japanese official who was in their bilateral meeting before the three-way talks.

'As the six-nation talks are entering a crucial phase, cooperation between Japan and South Korea and among Japan, the United States and South Korea is more important than ever,' Mr Komura was quoted as saying.

Mr Yu agreed to close cooperation while vowing to work to settle the abduction issue in a way the Japanese people can accept, the official said.

The two ministers also agreed to step up efforts on reaching a free trade agreement and to launch a forum of senior government officials from both countries to discuss UN reform and other multilateral issues.

Mr Komura and China's Yang also met bilaterally ahead of the full talks.

Good time
Political pundits said the three-way meeting came at a good time for all three countries' governments, which are weighed down by domestic problems.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak has faced mass protests over the resumption of US beef imports, while Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was slapped with a censure motion on Wednesday in a divided parliament.

China has seen protests against its rule in Tibet, setting off global criticism which Beijing had hoped to avoid in the run-up to the Olympics in August. China is also reeling from a massive earthquake last month.

The talks 'provide a very good opportunity for the three nations to divert the eyes of their people from domestic problems', said Takehiko Yamamoto, international politics professor at Tokyo's Waseda University.

The Tokyo meeting is aimed at laying the groundwork for a mooted three-way summit to be held in Japan later this year.

The only previous meeting among the three nations' foreign ministers outside multilateral events was in June last year on the South Korean resort island of Jeju.

Japan has since been repairing relations with China and South Korea, which have long been tense due in part to the legacy of Tokyo's aggression before World War II.

President Hu Jintao committed China to closer ties during his landmark visit to Japan in mid-May, confirming 'the two nations are cooperative partners, not threats, to each other' in a joint statement with Mr Fukuda.

During his visit to Japan in late April, South Korea's Lee sought to turn the page on fraught relations, pledging to cooperate over North Korea and to avoid 'knee-jerk' reactions over the past. -- AFP

Is this article useful to you?