Japanese Official Heads to China for Talks with N. Korea

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) A Japanese Foreign Ministry official headed to Shenyang, northeastern China, on Wednesday to take part in a two-day meeting of Red Cross officials from Japan and North Korea starting later in the day, Japan's news (Kyodo) reported. Keiichi Ono, director of the Northeast Asia Division of the Foreign Ministry, is expected to hold informal talks with Ryu Song Il, chief of the Japanese affairs section at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, on the sidelines of the Red Cross meeting in Shenyang. The focus of the envisaged talks between Ono and Ryu, which would follow a similar session March 3 in Shenyang, will be whether the two sides will agree to resume formal negotiations involving senior officials of the two countries