Japan, the United States and South Korea will hold a foreign ministerial meeting Wednesday in London, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

The meeting, which will come on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers' talks, will likely focus on trilateral coordination in seeking the complete denuclearization of North Korea, among other issues.

Combined photo shows (from L) Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong. (Kyodo)

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong are also expected to discuss China, whose increasing assertiveness is seen as a destabilizing factor in the Indo-Pacific region.

It will be the first such meeting since the launch of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration in January.

The United States on Monday expressed hope that North Korea will return to negotiations toward the goal of denuclearization, saying the Biden administration has made clear that it will pursue "practical" diplomacy on the issue.

The three-way talks have been proposed by the United States, according to sources familiar with the matter, after South Korea was invited by Britain to join the G-7 meeting as a guest along with India, Australia, South Africa and representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But Motegi and Chung are currently not planning to hold bilateral talks, according to the sources, given soured ties between Tokyo and Seoul over issues such as "comfort women" in Japan's wartime military brothels and the country's decision to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.


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