South Korea, Japan to Work Together on N. Korea Talks

By Seyoon Kim

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed to cooperate in dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, South Korea's presidential office said.

The leaders ``reaffirmed they will continue close cooperation'' between the two countries and with the U.S. to resolve the North Korean nuclear arms issue, the office said in a statement. Lee and Aso met in the Japanese city of Fukuoka ahead of a summit of South Korea, Japan and China later today.

The latest round of negotiations with North Korea and involving South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., ended earlier this week after a fourth day of discussions in Beijing. The North Korean government rejected a document drafted by China's delegation that would allow international inspectors to remove soil and waste samples from North Korea's Yongbyon reactor.

In a separate meeting, Lee and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to maintain ``close cooperation'' between the two countries to help resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, the presidential office said. Lee and Wen also agreed to work together to try to ``counter the global financial turmoil efficiently'' through policy cooperation, it said.

Aso and Lee expressed their regret about ``the uncooperative attitude which North Korea showed'' toward the joint effort to establish a structure to verify the extent of its atomic work, the statement said.

Currency Arrangement

The two leaders ``welcomed'' an increased bilateral currency swap arrangement announced yesterday and agreed to work together to follow up action plans agreed by heads of state from G-20 countries last month.

Leaders of the world's biggest developed and emerging nations in November put banks and investors on notice they will need to keep more capital and reveal more about their holdings, signaling the industry may emerge from the current crisis with less potential for profit.

South Korea and Japan yesterday agreed to increase an existing won-yen arrangement to $20 billion while China and South Korea agreed on an accord worth 38 trillion won ($28 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Seyoon Kim in Fukuoka, Japan or Skim7@bloomberg.net