S. Korea, U.S. to hold high-level talks on N.K. sanctions

South Korea and the United States will hold high-level talks in Seoul next week to coordinate their implementation of new sanctions on North Korea, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Amb. Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, and Daniel Fried, the State Department's coordinator for sanctions policy, will arrive in Seoul Monday for talks with Kim Hong-kyun, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, the ministry said in a press release.

Their discussions will focus on ways to increase pressure on the North Korean regime following the U.N. Security Council's adoption of tough sanctions against Pyongyang earlier this month, it said.

The allies have been pushing to tighten the screws on Pyongyang through a reinforcement of the U.N. sanctions, each country's unilateral sanctions and international pressure on the regime.

The U.S. officials are also expected to explain Washington's overall policy on North Korea, including President Barack Obama's recently issued executive order authorizing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.

Ahead of the high-level session, Sung Kim and Kim Hong-kyun plan to hold separate talks during which the South Korean envoy plans to share the results of his meeting with their Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei.

Kim Hong-kyun is currently in Beijing for talks with Wu.

It will be his second meeting with Sung Kim in less than two weeks. The South Korean envoy visited Washington last week for his first meeting with Kim since taking office last month. (Yonhap)