U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's visit to Tokyo came as Japan arranged to send its foreign minister to a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice was to arrive in Japan on Wednesday before travelling on to South Korea and China.

    Christopher Hill, U.S. asst. secretary of state said, "Probably the main part of the discussion will be how we can implement the UN Security Council resolution in a way to make it effective and we will be discussing that here in Tokyo and then she will be going on to Seoul and then we'll go to Beijing where I think it is very important to discuss the implementation of this resolution."

    Japan and the U.S. also agreed to try to convince Pyongyang to return unconditionally to the six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions.

    Kenichiro Sasae, Japan chief envoy to 6-party talks said, "I think we reached agreement on cooperation for an early implementation of the UN resolution. Especially, we agreed on the importance for the nations concerned to work closely to resolve the issues of North Korea such as nuclear, missile and abduction."

    Meanwhile, South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said he wants to meet the DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il once he takes up his duties as UN secretary-general. Ban called on Pyongyang not to conduct further tests in response to sanctions.

    Japan was making arrangements for Foreign Minister Taro Aso to join Condoleeza Rice on her trip and attend a three-way meeting in Seoul on Thursday with Ban Ki-moon.

    The officials were expected to focus on strengthening cooperation following the UN Security Council resolution adopted over the weekend to punish DPRK for its reported nuclear test.

    (Source: CCTV.com)