Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is expected to hold talks with North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-sun in late July.

The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday that Ban and Paek will attend the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on July 28, quoting visiting Malaysian Foreign Minster Syed Hamid Albar.

Albar will chair the inaugural meeting of the forum's Expert and Eminent Persons starting Thursday on Jeju Island.

He met with Ban Wednesday morning after arriving at Incheon International Airport.

Established in 1994, the forum is an inter-governmental security meeting for multilateral security dialogue and cooperation among 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

South Korea joined the forum in 1994, and North Korea did so six years later.

The foreign ministers of the two Koreas also met at the forum in 2004 and last year.