North Korea urged to return to nuke talks

SEOUL, June 3 (UPI) -- Foreign ministers from China, South Korea, and Japan Sunday urged North Korea to return to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program.

The ministers also pledged close cooperation with each other during their meeting on Jeju Island in South Korea, the Korea Times reported.

Song Min-soon from South Korea, Yang Jiechi from China and Taro Aso from Japan will meet again Monday in Seoul at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a regional forum of 30 nations, including Bahrain, Iran and Kuwait.

The ACD nations are expected to support renewal of the six-party nuclear talks, which stalled after North Korea failed to meet an April deadline for closing its main nuclear reactor.

North Korea has said it will not shut down its reactor until it receives more than $25 million in funds frozen in a Chinese bank in Macau.

The funds were frozen after allegations of money-laundering by North Korea, the newspaper reported.