Japan's vice FM to visit Seoul

Japan will send a senior official to South Korea to strengthen bilateral cooperation following a recent US-North Korea nuclear agreement. Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Kenichiro Sasae is scheduled to meet South Korea's First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ahn Ho-young and other officials during his two-day stay in Seoul from Thursday, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website. The officials are expected to agree to closely monitor whether the North will take concrete action toward denuclearization as agreed with the United States. At a direct US-North Korea negotiation held in February, the North agreed to temporarily suspend its nuclear tests and uranium enrichment activities. The North also agreed that it will accept inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. In exchange, the United States agreed to provide the North with 240,000 tons of nutritional supplements. The Japanese side is also expected to call on South Korea to cooperate in resolving the abduction issue.