US, Japan, S Korea to discuss N Korea policies

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il

TOKYO, Japan -- Officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Hawaii on May 26 to discuss coordinating their policies on North Korea, Reuters has reported.

The working-level talks in Honolulu between Washington and its two key Asian allies will come shortly after the Bush government is expected to complete a policy review on communist North Korea.

The Bush administration was expected to take a tougher stance towards the impoverished, isolated state, according to Reuter's Japanese government source.

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North Korea in 1999 agreed to suspend further missile tests while it was in talks on strengthening ties with Washington. But those talks under President Bill Clinton were suspended after Bush took office in January.

Bush told South Korean President Kim Dae-jung earlier this year that he would not resume missile talks with Pyongyang for the time being because there was no reliable way to ensure North Korea would comply with any agreement.

Warm ties

The comments dashed hopes for North Korea to improve relations with Washington, which had warmed significantly during the final months of Clinton's term.

In response, North Korea stepped up its anti-U.S. rhetoric and cancelled a series of meetings and other efforts at rapprochement with South Korea.

But earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il offered an olive branch to the Bush administration by telling a delegation of European Union officials that he would unilaterally extend a moratorium on testing long-range missiles until 2003.

U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy, have said in the past week that Washington expects to resume talks when it completes its policy review, possibly in a few weeks.

Reuters contributed to this report.