TOKYO,(Saba)- South Korea, the United States and Japan have concurred not to draft a joint statement calling for North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear weapons program before a fresh round of multilateral talks
are held, a Japanese News Agency reported here Saturday.

The Yomiuri Shimbun said the three countries reached the decision to try to set up a second round of nuclear talks in mid-January and entered into consultations with China.

The next six-nation meeting, originally sought for this week, was aborted as North Korea and the United States failed to agree in advance on the contents and language of an accord to be adopted at the meeting. The report said.

Instead of preparing the draft statement, the three countries plan to concentrate on diplomatic efforts to arrange the fresh round of nuclear talks aimed at resolving the nuclear dispute.

Last week, South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck proposed to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi that instead of working on the statement before the talks, the six countries should exchange opinions freely on how to end the nuclear impasse, according to the paper.