S. Korea's chief nuclear envoy to visit U.S. next week

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will visit the United States next week to discuss recent developments in efforts to restart the stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday.

Cho Tae-yong, Seoul's chief envoy to the six-party talks, plans to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Glyn Davies, and other National Security Council officials during the five-day trip that kicks off on Sunday, the ministry said.

Cho's trip comes after Davies flew to Seoul late last month for a two-day visit aimed at coordinating the allies' policies amid burgeoning expectations over the resumption of the six-party denuclearization forum.

The talks, which involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, the U.S. and Russia, have been suspended since the last session concluded in late 2008. The forum was launched in 2003 to convince Pyongyang to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons in exchange for economic and diplomatic concessions.

South Korea and the U.S. have urged the North to take steps demonstrating its denuclearization commitment in order for the six-party talks to resume.

During the visit, Seoul and Washington are expected to coordinate detailed ways to resume the six-nation talks, the ministry said.

Upon finishing the U.S. trip, Seoul's chief nuclear envoy will travel to China to meet with Beijing's chief point man on Korea, Wu Dawei.

The North Korean nuclear issue was a key topic in bilateral meetings between six-party nation leaders on the sidelines of regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei early last month.

The issue was also discussed in meetings between the nations' foreign ministers at the U.N. general assembly in New York in September. (Yonhap News)