Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell will travel to Japan and South Korea next week for discussions with senior officials on matters of mutual interest.

The U.S. State Department says Campbell will arrive in Tokyo on October sixth and will fly to Seoul the next day.

Campbell is expected to discuss recent moves by North Korea, the future of the six-way nuclear talks, and measures to denuclearize the communist country.

The visits follow a series of changes in the power structure of the communist state, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s move to promote his third son and heir apparent, Jong-un, to a number of high-level military and political posts.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told a regular news briefing that North Korea will certainly be among the issues Campbell discusses with South Korea and Japan during his visits.