A US delegation led by two senior diplomats will travel to Asia on Sunday to prepare for six-way negotiations with North Korea aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program, the State Department said on Thursday.
US Under-secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Under-secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph will visit Japan, China and South Korea during the five-day tour, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The pair will hold meetings on Sunday and Monday in Tokyo before travelling for two days of talks with Chinese leaders and Russian officials in Beijing, before heading on to Seoul, he said.
China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States are the five parties which have been trying for the past three years to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives.
The two sides reached a framework agreement in September 2005 which was to have led to North Korea's de-nuclearisation, but Pyongyang walked away from the negotiations two months later and last month shook the world by carrying out its first test of a nuclear bomb.
Confronted by unprecedented sanctions imposed by the United Nations and backed by its main ally, China, North Korea earlier this week agreed to return to the six-party talks.
McCormack said on Thursday that those negotiations were expected to begin before the end of the year, based on preparations being undertaken by Burns and Joseph -- the State Department's point man on enacting key elements of the UN sanctions.
"The talks (will be) about continuing implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1718 and also how to create the right conditions, the best atmosphere to prepare for this next round of six-party talks," he said.
Washington is insisting those talks be based on the September 2005 framework agreement under which North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons program. But that deal did not spell out the sequencing of exactly how the de-nuclearisation would proceed.
McCormack said there were no plans for the US envoys to meet with the North Koreans during next week's trip.
"I don't see that happening", he said.