TOKYO. March 15 (Interfax) - There is no chance to resume the six-nation negotiations (between Russia, China, the United States, Japan, and South and North Koreas) on the North Korean nuclear program, given the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, a source in the Japanese Foreign Ministry told Interfax.
"We can hardly speak of the resumption of six-nation negotiations on the Korea issue. A number of matters need to be discussed with South Korea and the United States," the source said.
"The current situation on the peninsula needs to be addressed before holding six-nation negotiations," he said.
Tokyo has been monitoring the attempts of Pyongyang and Seoul at establishing an inter-Korean dialogue; it can see that North Korea has been trying to dent South Korea's relations with Japan and the United States in the course of this process, the source said.
"There have been moments when North and South Koreas took steps towards unification. Japan has noticed North Korea's attempts at weakening South Korea's relations with Japan and the United States," he said.
"It is important to support and maintain these relations [between Japan, the United States, and South Korea] under those circumstances," the source said.
South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon visited Pyongyang and met with the North Korean leader on March 5-6.
The sides agreed to arrange a meeting between the North and South Korean leaders in late April.
Besides, Pyongyang declared its readiness to start consultations on normalizing relations with Washington, and said that the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula might be raised there. According to Chung, U.S. President Donald Trump was ready to meet with the North Korean president before May.