The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral meeting in Washington this week to discuss how to deal with North Korea, the State Department said Monday.

Amb. Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, will host Thursday's meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Hwang Joon-kook, and Japanese counterpart Kimihiro Ishikane "to exchange views on a wide range of issues related to the North," the department said in a release.

Kim will also hold bilateral meetings with both Hwang and Ishikane, it said.

"These discussions reflect the close cooperation among our three countries and our continued focus on pursuing the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," the department said.

The three countries had a previous gathering of their chief nuclear envoys in Seoul in May.

This week's meeting will be the first since Japan replaced its top delegate to the six-way talks in October.

The six-party talks also involve North Korea, China and Russia, and aim to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

In Washington, Hwang will also meet with officials from the Department of the Treasury to discuss ways to increase the effectiveness of current sanctions on Pyongyang, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a separate release.

On Friday, the South Korean and U.S. envoys plan to attend a forum in New York on the future of the six-party talks, which have been stalled for seven years.

At the closed-door forum, co-hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the South Korean consulate general in New York, they plan to explain the allies' diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. (Yonhap)