The top security adviser to President Park Geun-hye is planning to visit China in the near future to meet with Chinese officials, government sources said Sunday, amid nascent hopes for rare inter-Korean dialogue.

The forthcoming visit by South Korean National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin is to reciprocate a trip to Seoul in November 2013 by Yang Jiechi, China's state councilor for foreign affairs, the sources said.

The two countries are currently in discussions to set the date and schedule of the planned trip, they noted.

During their summit meeting in June 2013, Park and Chinese President Xi Jinping resolved to set up a regular meeting of their national security advisers, with the inauguration gathering held in November that year in Seoul.

The planned second gathering in Beijing is expected to draw keen attention as it will come amid some signs of a possible breakthrough in the relations of the rival Koreas.

Hopes for an inter-Korean summit meeting have been growing since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un alluded to a summit in his New Year's address. "Depending on the mood and circumstances to be created, there is no reason not to hold the highest-level talks," Kim has noted.

Three days earlier, South Korea had proposed holding inter-Korean talks sometime in January to discuss bilateral issues.

The North, however, has yet to officially react to the offer.

The latest developments on the Korean Peninsula are likely to dominate the forthcoming Beijing meeting of South Korean and Chinese officials.

During the meeting, Seoul is expected to urge, as it has often done before, China to use its influence in inducing progress in inter-Korean relations while stressing Seoul's long-held stance that the North Korean nuclear issue should first be resolved for the South to proceed meaningful with the North.

The officials may also delve into the latest South Korean security issues, including the speculated deployment of U.S.

missile defense and THAAD missiles systems on the peninsula as well as the recent signing of a military intelligence sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo, according to the sources.

"Who National Security Adviser Kim will meet with (during the visit) has not been determined," one of the government sources said.

Given Yang Jiechi's courtesy call paid on President Park during the 2013 Seoul visit, Kim could pay a visit to President Xi during the envisioned visit, according to the sources. (Yonhap)