22 January
US and North Korean officials appear to have met in Sweden, following the announcement by the US of a second summit next month.
The US special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui spent three days at a facility near the capital Stockholm.
The two left for their respective embassies in the country on Monday.
It was the first time top working-level negotiators from the two countries were in contact since the White House announced plans for a second US-North Korea summit in late February.
Neither of the officials took questions from reporters, but they are believed to have discussed the denuclearization process.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau chief, Kenji Kanasugi, later visited the US Embassy in Stockholm, apparently to get a briefing from Biegun on the US-North Korean negotiations.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held separate conference calls with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
NHK
