The director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. division is scheduled to arrive in New York on Friday.

Ri Gun is set to land in New York from Beijing, after which he will move to San Diego to attend the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue that will open on Monday. Ri will then fly back to New York to attend a debate on North Korea on Friday.

The Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, a research unit at the University of California, will be hosting the Northeast Asia Cooperative Dialogue. The gathering will be attended by scholars as well as foreign and defense ministry officials of the members of the six-way nuclear talks.

Given that the State Department plans to send special envoy to the six-way nuclear talks Sung Kim to the two meetings next week, observers believe Kim and Ri may end up meeting on the sidelines of the dialogues.

Observers said that if such a meeting were to occur, the two officials would likely discuss bilateral U.S.-North Korea talks, Pyongyang’s return to the nuclear discussions, and a visit to North Korea by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Stephen Bosworth.