South Korea and the U.S. are planning a follow-up Sherpa meeting to the inaugural Nuclear Security Summit. The meeting will also check preparations for South Korea’s hosting of the second summit.

A South Korean government official said the Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Jo Hyeon will lead as the Sherpa of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit. Jo will meet with his U.S. counterpart Gary Samore, Senior Advisor to the President and Senior Director for Non-Proliferation, before returning to Korea on Friday.

Attention is on the revision of the South Korea-U.S. agreement for cooperation on civil uses of atomic energy, as Jo is also the chief negotiator to revise the agreement.

Meanwhile, Seoul and Washington have reportedly agreed upon in principle to begin negotiations for an early beginning to the bilateral atomic energy talks, prompted by this year's Nuclear Security Summit.