The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States have agreed to hold talks over the state of affairs in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) after its leader's death, the foreign ministry said here Thursday.

The trilateral meeting among South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be held "at a mutually convenient time," the ministry said.

The meeting will be the first such one since the Dec. 17 death of top DPRK leader Kim Jong Il.

The agreement to hold three-way talks was made at the separate talks in Washington earlier this week involving senior diplomats of the three countries, including South Korea's top nuclear negotiator Lim Sung-nam.

The diplomats discussed reviving stalled six-party negotiations aimed at dismantling the DPRK's nuclear program and agreed that Pyongyang should improve relations with the three countries through dialogue.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet