Reuters:
Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, will head the U.S. delegation, State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said.
The first session was expected to last for a few days, then break for Christmas.
U.S. confirmation followed media reports that the talks would soon resume. There have been no talks since Pyongyang walked out of the negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States a year ago.
The reclusive communist state agreed to return to the table last month after a wave of international condemnation over its October 9 nuclear test.
However, of the six -- which include North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- two are casting a shadow on the optimism of the State Department. Japan and North Korea both agree on one issue; Japan should not attend.
Associated Press:
Japan will oppose the resumption of international talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program unless Pyongyang is ready to compromise, a top Japanese governing party official warned Sunday.
The comments, by Shoichi Nakagawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's policy research council, came as North Korea's neighbors scrambled to arrange a new round of negotiations, perhaps as early as next week.
"It's fine if North Korea can bring some contribution to peace, but simply starting talks is not meaningful," Nakagawa said on a morning talk show carried by the public broadcaster NHK.
This is diplomatic politesse. At the core of the disagreement between Japan and North Korea is a smuggling operation run by a the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, which is basically a North Korean front group to influence japanese politics in the absense of formal diplomatic relations between the two nations. Japan's Daily Yomuiri reported in November:
It is believed that the wife of an executive of the Korean Association of Science and Technology in Japan (KAST), an organization affiliated with Chongryon, attempted to smuggle medical supplies, including intravenous solution bags obtained from a Tokyo doctor without authorization, into the reclusive state.
IV bags are used to help patients recover after they undergo surgery. The government of North Korea is suspected of involvement in the woman's alleged attempt to smuggle the bags, hoping to use them to treat high-ranking government officials and military officers in that country.
In an editorial, a North Korean state newspaper claims the crackdown on Chongryon "is a tactic to cast a shadow on resuming the six-party talks by intentionally provoking us."
"Japan is nothing but an impostor, not qualified to take part in the six-party talks," the state Rodong Sinmun said. "Even if they do come to the six-party talks, there will be nothing useful, with them making it difficult to solve the issue and wasting time by bringing to the table irrelevant issues."
Japan and North Korea may be the parties who bring the most mutual contention to the table in the talks. Both North and South Korea see Japan as becoming more militaristic. In response to North Korean belligerence, observers believe Japan may eventually amend its constitution to legalize war.
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