By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A group of South Korean experts on foreign affairs and government officials will leave for the United States Tuesday for talks with scholars at U.S. think tanks and aides to President-elect Barack Obama, foreign ministry officials said Monday.
The group led by former foreign minister Han Seung-joo and Kim Tae-hyo, a presidential secretary on foreign affairs, will discuss the policies of the Lee Myung-bak administration and the new U.S. government, they said.
The envisaged meetings, dubbed ``1.5 track'' policy dialogue, will offer an opportunity for experts to discuss bilateral and global issues of concern and deepen mutual understanding, ahead of the inauguration of the Obama administration on Jan. 20, they added.
The group includes President Lee's advisors on foreign affairs and international policies, such as Professor Kim Sung-han of Korea University, Professor Lee Jung-min of Yonsei University and Wi Seong-rak, a key policy advisor to Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
The delegation is seeking to hold talks with key U.S. figures who will feature in Obama's lineup on foreign policies, including Kurt Campbell, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific, and Jeffrey Bader, director of the China Initiative and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, officials said.