Akitaka Saiki, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Wi Sung Lac, Seoul's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, also agreed in Tokyo to closely cooperate with the United States to seek an early resumption of the stalled six-party talks.

The Japanese-South Korean talks were held as the United States is entering the final stage of arranging a visit by Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korean policy, to North Korea by the year's end, according to sources close to the six-party talks.

North Korea agreed in September 2005 to scrap its nuclear programs in an aid-for-denuclearization deal struck at the six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

But North Korea withdrew from the multilateral talks in April in protest against the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of a rocket launch the country conducted, which was widely regarded as a long- range missile test. Pyongyang added to the tension by conducting its second nuclear test in May.

In September, the United States announced a plan to seek direct talks with North Korea in an effort to restart the six-party negotiations, which have been stalled since last December.