South Korea's top nuclear envoy, who represents the country at the six-party talks, will visit the United States next week to discuss issues on the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.
Hwang Joon-kook, special envoy for the Korean Peninsula peace and security negotiations, will make a three-day visit to Washington from Sept. 8 to meet with his U.S. counterpart Glyn Davies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The statement said that during this visit, the two envoys will share assessment on recent situations on the Korean Peninsula and tune up measures to tackle the DPRK's nuclear issue.
The six-party talks, aimed at dismantling the DPRK's nuclear weapons program, have been stalled since late 2008 when Pyongyang walked out of the aid-for-denuclearization dialogue. The talks involve the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan.
Hwang's visit, the first in three months, came at a time when speculation is spreading that a U.S. envoy may visit the DPRK to discuss the release of three American citizens detained in the DPRK.
Kim Kwan-jin, top national security adviser to President Park Geun-hye, would reportedly visit the United States this month to meet with his U.S. counterpart Susan Rice to talk about the DPRK issues.
The DPRK has called for an "unconditional" resumption of the six-party talks, while Seoul and Washington have demanded that Pyongyang first demonstrate its sincere attitude toward denuclearization.