Senior U.S. government officials handling Korean affairs were to arrive in Seoul Sunday to discuss ways to beef up the alliance between the two countries and other pending issues such as North Korea, Seoul officials said.

Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Russel and Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense David Shear were set to fly into Seoul late Sunday for a three-day visit before heading to Japan, officials said. The planned trip comes after a North Korean military-party delegation met South Korean high-ranking officials on Saturday on a rare one-day visit to the South.