The Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau chief Kenichi Sasae on Saturday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan to make efforts to return to the six- party talks over the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, Kyodo News reported.

The two chief negotiators held a two-hour meeting in a hotel in Tokyo, the first since they met in Beijing in last November.

Kim arrived in Tokyo on Friday to attend the 17th Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue from Sunday.

Senior officials involved in the six-party talks have arrived one after another in Tokyo for the academic conference on security issues slated for three days.

The meeting will be the first gathering of chief negotiators from the six parties since the last round of the multilateral nuclear negotiations ended in Beijing in November.

Source: Xinhua