US, North and South Korea meet in Finland

Helsinki, March 21 (IANS) A tripartite talk between North Korea, South Korea and the US has started in Finland and denuclearisation is not on the agenda, Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini has said.

No statements were released on Tuesday from Vaanta, where the talks were in progress.

The media was not allowed to enter the fenced meeting venue and black cars were seen entering the compound in the morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

It is widely believed that the discussion, which is set to run through Wednesday, was related to preparations for the April summit between the two Koreas and a later one between Pyongyang and Washington.

In an interview with the Finnish television, Soini said that nuclear weapons were unlikely to be discussed at the tripartite talks.

It is "good to have the discussion going on and take the use of this time frame that was opened between the South and North Korea before the (Winter) Olympics (in February)" Soini said.

Soini added that Finland is only a facilitator in the so-called 1.5-track meeting, a term used for talks in which heads of government and cabinet ministers are not present.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)