2011-03-07 15:21

SEOUL- Japan's chief negotiator to the stalled six-party nuclear talks arrived in Seoul Monday for meetings over nuclear issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Shinsuke Sugiyama is expected to meet with his South Korean counterpart Wi Sung-lac, on Tuesday to discuss the DPRK's uranium enrichment-related activities and resuming the long-stalled talks aimed at ridding the DPRK of its nuclear program, according to local reports.

In his first independent trip since assuming the position in January, the envoy, who also heads the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese foreign ministry, is scheduled to meet separately with Chang Won-sam, director general of the Northeast Asian affairs bureau at the foreign ministry here, reports said.

Sugiyama and South Korean officials are also expected to discuss restitution of South Korea's cultural assets plundered during the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged last year the return of South Korean royal documents.