By Shim Jae-yun Korea Times Correspondent

WASHINGTON ; South Korea, the United States and Japan will jointly call on North Korea to scrap its suspected project to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons during a three-way meeting slated for here, said a senior official at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Monday.

``The three nations share the view that the North’s abandoning of the program to develop highly enriched uranium should be the starting point in resolving the nuclear issue,’’ said Shim Yoon-joe, director general of the ministry’s North America Bureau.

Shim is visiting here to attend the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting which began Monday afternoon. Another South Korean participant in the meeting said the three nations would clarify their stance in a joint statement at the end of the trilateral meeting designed to coordinate policy on North Korea.

The statement will also contain the three nations’ resolve to closely work together to find a solution to the nuclear standoff with various proposals on the table said the official, who declined to be identified.

Shim said the three nations will also focus on diplomatic efforts by garnering support from China and Russia and international organizations like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The trilateral meeting has been drawing attention as it comes amid escalating nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula, prompted by the North’s declared bid to unfreeze its nuclear activities. The North has been taking several steps toward that end, removing seals and surveillance cameras and expelling UN inspectors from related facilities.

A flurry of multilateral diplomacy has been taking place. Assistant Secretary of States James Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Bolton plan to visit Seoul to discuss follow-up steps to the three-way meeting.

Yim Sung-joon, national security advisor to President Kim Dae-jung, will arrive here Tuesday to meet with U.S. officials including National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Yim will also visit Japan to discuss with Japanese officials the North Korean nuclear issue.