Korean foreign vice minister to leave for US

South Korea's No. 2 diplomat is set to leave for Washington this weekend for talks with senior US officials to discuss North Korea and other bilateral issues, an official said Saturday.

Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam is set to meet with US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and other senior officials on Monday, according to the South Korean foreign ministry official.

The meeting came amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's launches of two intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

The two sides will discuss a wide range of topics including policy coordination on North Korea's nuclear program and bolstering the Seoul-Washington alliance.

"There will be a variety of consultative agendas. The two sides will not focus on just one or two areas but will review the overall consultative mechanism between South Korea and the US," a senior foreign ministry official in Seoul said.

Revision of a bilateral missile guideline is also reportedly being considered as a topic of discussion. Under the bilateral missile agreement, South Korea is prohibited from developing ballistic missiles with a range of more than 800 kilometers and a payload of over 500 kilograms.

But South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered consultations on such a revision after North Korea launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

In Washington, the State Department said Friday that Lim and Sullivan will discuss continued coordination on North Korea policy, bilateral issues, and trilateral cooperation with Japan on shared regional and global priorities.

Sullivan will also reaffirm the United States' "ironclad commitment" to the defense of South Korea and its other allies against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, the department said in a news release.

The talks will precede a meeting between the two countries' defense chiefs on Wednesday.

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are scheduled to meet at the Pentagon to discuss North Korea and the allies' combined defense capabilities. (Yonhap)