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Mitsuo Sakaba, press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry (File Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    HANOI, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) pledged here Saturday to coordinate their position on the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.

    "The meeting has come at a crucial time and is of great significance, " said Mitsuo Sakaba, press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, noting that this was also the first trilateral summit of its kind since 2002.

    He told journalists U.S. President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and ROK President Roh Moo-hyun shared the view during the meeting that the combination of dialogues and pressure is important in solving the nuclear issue and that the future six-party talks must produce concrete results.

    "While Japan agrees to the combination efforts, we think that a strong position on the issue is very important at this time," he said.

    Asked why China and Russia were not invited to the meeting, Sakaba said that the trilateral meeting was decided by foreign ministers of the three countries several months ago, and that the three parties would approach China and Russia later.

    The three leaders also shared the view that coordination of positions in the future six-party talks is crucially important, he said.