U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will embark on a four-day trip to Asia later this week.

Powell is scheduled to fly to Seoul on Monday after stops in Tokyo and Beijing.

The U.S. State Department says Powell will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday for talks on North Korea and Iraq.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday the six-party talks on settling North Korea's nuclear issue will be an important element in the discussions. He also expressed Washington's desire to quickly reconvene negotiations to ascertain whether or not Pyongyang genuinely wants to continue with the nuclear talks.

Asked whether Powell's visit to South Korea - which takes place one week before the U.S. presidential poll - suggests an impending dramatic turn in Washington's North Korea policy, Boucher replied that the secretary had no plans regarding such a policy shift.