DPRK, Japan to hold talks in December in Beijing

Senior officials from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan will hold talks on bilateral ties in December in Beijing, the official news agency KCNA reported Tuesday.

The intergovernmental talks are scheduled for Dec. 5-6 and come on the heels of a rare meeting between the two countries in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, earlier this month, the KCNA said.

The DPRK will be represented by Song Il Ho, ambassador for talks to normalize relations with Japan, while Japan's top negotiator will be Shinsuke Sugiyama, chief of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau, according to the KCNA report.

Mongolia said after the Nov. 15-16 meeting that it brokered the talks to help ensure stability in Northeast Asia, adding that Ulan Bator believed the meeting was conducive to normalizing relations between the DPRK and Japan and deepening mutual understanding.