US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (C) shakes hands with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon (R) and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso (L) yesterday before a three-way talks at Ban's official residence in Seoul. -Xinhua/AFP

Foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan yesterday urged an early return of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) to the six-party talks.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and his U.S. counterpart Condoleezza Rice and Japanese counterpart Taro Aso held a two-hour trilateral meeting in his residence, discussing the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, said South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The three sides reiterated that the nuclear test by DPRK is a grave threat to the Korean Peninsula, the East Asia as well as the world. The three sides confirmed that they will take unified measures against DPRK in terms of the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1718, the Yonhap said, quoting an unnamed South Korean Foreign Ministry official.

The three sides agreed to leave the door open for negotiations with DPRK in a bid to resolve the nuclear issue through a peaceful and diplomatic way.

During the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured South Korea and Japan of the U.S. security commitments in the region, the Yonhap said.

It was the first trilateral meeting among the three countries' foreign ministers since October, 2000, when then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with her counterparts in Seoul after her visit to Pyongyang.

Rice arrived here on Thursday on her three-nation Asia tour. She is scheduled to travel to Beijing on Friday.

Aso arrived in Seoul Thursday afternoon for the trilateral meeting.