A former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and a few other U.S. experts on issues related to the Korean Peninsula left Beijing Tuesday for Pyongyang. It will be the first trip to North Korea by a U.S. delegation since President Barack Obama took office last month.

The group includes Stephen Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, former Assistant Secretary of State Morton Abramowitz and Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council.

During the trip, the U.S. delegates may meet with top officials from North Korea, including the North's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan.

Departing from the Beijing Capital International Airport, Abramowitz told reporters that the visiting group does not carry any official message from the Obama administration. Bosworth said that he does not know who the group will meet in North Korea at the moment.

The seven-member delegation will leave Pyongyang Saturday to return to Beijing before heading back to the U.S.