An international nonproliferation conference is set to open on Friday in Moscow, setting the stage for possible meetings between South and North Korea and between North Korea and the U.S.
 
About 200 government officials and experts from some 40 countries will attend the so-called "track one-point-five meeting" to discuss nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons.
 
North Korea sent Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American affairs bureau at the Foreign Ministry and Jong Nak-hyok, a researcher at the ministry's Institute for American Studies.
 
South Korea is sending Lee Sang-hwa, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs. From Japan, Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asia Pacific bureau will attend the conference.
 
Americans planning to attend include former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, former State Department special adviser Robert Einhorn and top nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker.
 
The two-day meeting is drawing attention over the prospect of unofficial meetings between the diplomats of the two Koreas or between North Korea and the U.S. on the sidelines of the conference. 

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