Seoul : Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul on Thursday about the issue involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)’s nuclear and missile programs.

Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi at the foreign ministry building of South Korea in Seoul.

The two envoys exchanged in-depth opinions on ways to maintain the stable management of the Korean Peninsula situations and contain the North’s provocations through diplomatic efforts including dialogue and sanctions, Seoul’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The bilateral meeting came a day after Lee and Kanasugi had a trilateral meeting also attended by top U.S. nuclear envoy Joseph Yun. On Thursday, a vice ministerial-level meeting was also held in Seoul between the three allies.

Lee and Kanasugi agreed to make more efforts to encourage North Korea to return to a path to denuclearization.

They also agreed to more frequently and closely meet to achieve a common goal of the complete dismantlement of the North’s nuclear program in a peaceful manner, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.

The Seoul meeting between chief negotiators of South Korea and Japan for the currently stalled disarmament talks came amid rising tensions on the peninsula following the North’s sixth nuclear test in September and the exchange of strident rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington.

—NNN-XINHUA