South Korean Defense Minister to Visit U.S.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin will visit Washington next week for his first meeting with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the government said Friday.

Kim, who took the post in a Cabinet shake-up in March, will meet Rumsfeld on Thursday for a discussion on DPRK and other security issues, Kim's office said in a statement.

During his weeklong visit, Kim is scheduled to meet Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top U.S. government officials. Kim will speak on the U.S.-South Korea military alliance at a meeting sponsored by the private think tank Heritage Foundation, the statement said.

The U.S. government said last week that it will start talks with DPRK over that country's missile and other weapons of mass destruction.

South Korean officials are hopeful the recent decision by the Bush administration to open security talks with DPRK will encourage the North to resume a dialogue with the South.

Earlier this year, DPRK cut off virtually all contact with Seoul over tensions with Washington.

The United States keeps about 37,000 troops in South Korea.

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