The U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on North Korea on March first.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will preside over the hearing under the theme of breaking the cycle of North Korean provocations.

Among those to attend the hearing are Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth. They are expected to offer insight into the direction the Obama administration will take in dealing with North Korea in the latter half of its term.

The hearing will be held amid rising concern over the potential for new North Korean provocations following the collapse of inter-Korean working-level military talks early this month.
U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper said in a report submitted to the U.S. Congress early this month that North Korea may engage in new provocations as a way to facilitate the third-generation father-to-son power succession.

Admiral Robert Willard, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said Thursday that South Korea and the U.S. may face new North Korean provocations in several months.