Michael DeSombrie, U.S. Department of State assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will visit Korea next week.
On the 5th (local time), the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said on X (formerly Twitter), "Deputy Minister DeSombrie will visit Tokyo, Seoul and Ulaanbaatar from the 9th to the 17th to further deepen cooperation with Japan, Korea and Mongolia on shared priority issues across the Indo-Pacific."
However, the exact timing of the visit to Korea and detailed schedule have not been disclosed.
In particular, Deputy Minister DeSombrie's visit to Korea is drawing attention as it comes at a time when the North Korean nuclear issue has come to the fore amid armed clashes among the United States, Israel and Iran. With the United States attacking Iran with the goal of preventing it from possessing nuclear weapons, there is interest in how discussions between the South Korean and U.S. authorities on the North Korean nuclear issue will proceed.
There is also speculation that Deputy Minister DeSombrie may seek Korea's diplomatic support in connection with the U.S. attack on Iran.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister DeSombrie is also said to have met late last month in Washington, D.C., with Chung Yeon-du, Korea's chief representative on the North Korean nuclear issue and director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Office of Strategy and Intelligence.