Deputy Secretary William J. Burns will travel to Seoul next week to hold a series of meetings with South Korean officials on regional and global issues, the State Department said Thursday.
Burns is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Monday after a two-day trip to Tokyo.
"Deputy Secretary Burns will travel to Seoul October 15 to meet with senior South Korean officials and to participate in the U.S.-ROK (South Korea) Strategic Dialogue," the department said in a press release following a similar announcement by Seoul's foreign ministry.
The allies hold the Strategic Dialogue between their No. 2 diplomats on an irregular basis for coordination on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
Burns will also visit China, Burma and India during his upcoming Asia swing, it added.
In a separate statement, meanwhile, the State Department said its top point man on Pyongyang will head to Northeast Asia next week.
"A U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies will travel to Asia October 16-20 to participate in a trilateral dialogue with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on North Korea," it said.
The department said the trilateral meeting is part of routine consultations on North Korea.
The gathering, it said, is "part of an ongoing dialogue among the three countries to exchange views on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and reaffirm our continued close coordination on North Korea issues."
Davies will also hold bilateral consultations with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts -- Lim Sung-Nam, special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security issues, and Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general for Asian and oceanian affairs at Japan's foreign ministry.
Davies will make a three-day trip to Seoul from Thursday, during which he will meet with National Security Adviser Chun Yung-woo and other senior officials and several academics to further exchange views on regional issues, including North Korea, according to his department. (Yonhap News)
