U.S. President Barack Obama will send his national security adviser, Thomas Donilon, to the Feb. 25 inauguration ceremony of South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

“President Obama decided to send his close aide, National Security Advisor Donilon, as a special envoy to the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Park Geun-hye, considering the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance,” Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, the floor leader of the South’s ruling Saenuri Party, told reporters after returning from a visit to Washington last week.

During Donilon’s visit, the two sides will discuss an appropriate time for Park to visit the U.S., he added.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to visit South Korea next month, Lee said.

The lawmaker, who visited the U.S. as a special envoy of Park, said the two sides also agreed to use a joint strategy both before and after North Korea conducts its third nuclear test. (Yonhap News)