South Korean vice FM to visit Washington for strategic dialogue

South Korea's vice foreign minister will visit Washington next week to hold an annual strategic dialogue with U.S. officials, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday. "Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun is scheduled to visit Washington from Dec. 15 to 18 to exchange views with U.S. government officials and academic personnel in charge of the Korean Peninsula affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai- young told a regular press briefing. The strategic dialogue with Deputy U.S. Secretary of State William Burns was scheduled to be held on Dec. 17, Cho said. Seoul and Washington have held such dialogue annually since 2006. Kim and U.S. officials will discuss issues over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Northeast Asian situation, the spokesman said. The recent purge of Jang Song-thaek in the DPRK was widely expected to be discussed during the dialogue as it can worsen inter-Korean relations. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Tuesday that the ouster of Jang, uncle-in-law of DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and widely viewed as the DPRK's No. 2 man, can destabilize inter-Korean relations, noting that the DPRK was performing a "reign of terror" to strengthen power of Kim Jong Un. The DPRK's official Korea Central News Agency reported that Jang was removed from all posts and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) for his anti-party and counter-revolutionary crimes.