U.S. and Japan to discuss next steps in six-party talks

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will discuss the next steps in the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear status when they meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan, a White House official said on Saturday.

Leaders of the United States, Japan, Russia, China, North and South Korea -- the members of the six-party talks -- will need to decide "how we will do verification of the declaration" submitted by North Korea on its intent to proceed with the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, the official said.

The White House official, Dennis Wilder, senior director of the National Security Council's office of Asian affairs, said Bush and Fukuda will likely discuss means of verifying that all fuel rods have been removed from the Yongbyon nuclear facility, believed to have been producing weapons-grade plutonium.

They are also likely to discuss how to move from "disablement" of that facility to "dismantlement" and the final resting place of nuclear materials already produced, he said.

"We are at a very pivotal point in the six-party process and the president and the prime minister of Japan will want to compare notes and make sure we are working the same page," Wilder said, according to a pool report from journalists on Air Force One.

Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator, may begin consultations on these issues with his counterparts in the talks in Beijing as early as July 11 or 12, Wilder was quoted as saying.

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8), comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, will meet on July 7-9 on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; writing by Todd Eastham; editing by John O'Callaghan)