White House official in Seoul to discuss Yoon-Biden summit

A senior White House official is in Seoul as part of a US advance team to prepare a summit between American President Joe Biden and his incoming South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol next month, a diplomatic source said.

Edgard Kagan, senior director for East Asia and Oceania at the National Security Council, has been in Seoul since Saturday for meetings with the transition team's key members in charge of foreign policy to discuss details for the proposed summit, Yonhap News Agency reported citing an informed source as saying.

Biden has widely been expected to visit South Korea before or after he travels to Japan to attend a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting around May 24, with May 20-22 considered the likely dates of his visit.

Details are still being set up, including the schedule and the summit venue, as Yoon will have relocated the presidential office out of Cheong Wa Dae and into what is now the Defence Ministry compound.

The summit is set to become the earliest-ever to take place following a South Korean President's inauguration.

Yoon will take office on May 10.