US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the Department of State in Washington on Oct. 31, 2024. (US State Department)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the Department of State in Washington on Oct. 31, 2024. (US State Department)

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States will hold talks in Seoul Monday to discuss the countries' bilateral alliance and North Korea issues amid the ongoing political turmoil stemming from President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's two-day visit to South Korea, which starts Sunday, would mark the first visit by a high-ranking US official since Yoon's botched martial law imposition on Dec. 3. It would also be Blinken's first visit to South Korea since March last year, when he attended the Third Summit for Democracy hosted by Seoul.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will meet with Blinken to "discuss the South Korea-US alliance, trilateral cooperation involving Japan, North Korea issues as well as both regional and global issues," the ministry said in a brief message to reporters.

The two have reaffirmed the "ironclad" alliance between the two countries through phone calls made on Dec. 6 and 21 last year, after the martial law imposition.

The meeting between the two top diplomats will be held amid growing concerns of cracks forming in the decadeslong alliance between Seoul and Washington due to risks stemming from the Dec. 3 martial law imposition. Several bilateral diplomatic and security events, including a session of the Nuclear Consultative Group, the allies' key nuclear deterrence body, have been postponed since Yoon's surprise martial law decree.

Pyongyang's deepening military partnership with Russia coupled with its advancing nuclear weapons program has added to worries that the allies will fail to maintain a combined defense posture against threats from the North, amid political turmoil here.

The upcoming trip to Seoul is expected to be Blinken's final visit to South Korea as a top US diplomat with the Biden administration. US President-elect Donald Trump's term is set to begin on Jan. 20. Blinken will leave for Japan after his South Korea visit.

Meanwhile, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya's meeting with Cho is likely to follow Blinken's visit, according to diplomatic sources. The visit is likely to take place on Jan. 13, the sources added.

Sources also said that Seoul is discussing holding three-way talks with Beijing and Tokyo, involving their top diplomats, as early as next month.

Japan's Mainichi Shimbun recently reported that Tokyo has launched discussions with Seoul and Beijing to hold trilateral talks among their top diplomats in Japan in early February.

Japan is this year's host for the trilateral summit among the leaders of the three neighboring Asian countries, expected to take place later this year.