A ranking North Korean official in charge of policies on South Korea will attend a private academic forum in the U.S. next month, an official in Seoul said Friday.

Won Tong-yon, deputy director of the United Front Department of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, will travel at the invitation of a professor at the University of Georgia, according to the South Korean government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The department oversees policy on the South.

“To my understanding, the U.S. government recently issued visas for Deputy Director Won and six other people traveling with him,” the official said.

Two South Korean lawmakers -- Rep. Won Hee-ryong of the ruling Grand National Party and Rep. Park Joo-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party -- are also expected to attend the seminar, raising the possibility of a meeting between the sides.

The official, however, played down the significance of the visit, saying Won is unlikely to meet with U.S. or South Korean officials there.

Won will be attending the forum as a member of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, rather than as deputy director of his department. The committee is affiliated with the department and handles inter-Korean affairs.

The trip comes amid recent signs of a thaw in inter-Korean relations following months of tension in the wake of North Korea’s two deadly attacks on the South last year. Since July, the Koreas have held two rounds of talks on the North’s possible denuclearization, while the U.S. is reported to be seeking another session of bilateral talks with the communist state next month. (Yonhap News)