S. Korea, IAEA to hold high-level meeting to discuss N.K.

SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold a meeting this week to discuss North Korea's nuclear issue and nonproliferation efforts, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The South Korea-IAEA high-level meeting, to be held on Wednesday, will be attended by Oh Young-ju, deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs at the foreign ministry, and Tero Varjoranta, head of the IAEA's department of safeguards, according to the ministry.

They are expected to discuss issues of mutual concern, such as North Korea's nuclear problem, cooperation on safeguards and nuclear nonproliferation, foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told a regular press briefing.

Varjoranta also plans to meet Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, and exchange views on North Korea and ways to peacefully resolve the nuclear problem.

Lee is a member of an agenda-setting subcommittee of the recently-launched inter-Korean summit preparation committee, the spokesman said.

South Korea and the U.S. are preparing to hold summits with North Korea in April and May to discuss its denuclearization.

kokobj@yna.co.kr
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