South Korea's foreign minister will leave for Switzerland next week to attend this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues, officials said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is likely to depart Seoul around Wednesday to attend the forum to be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, officials from the foreign ministry said. The forum is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday for a four-day run.

This year's forum is expected to draw about 2,500 political leaders, government officials and business leaders from more than 140 countries who would discuss challenges facing the world economy and other global issues, according to the forum's organizers.

Yun is expected to participate in a session titled "the geopolitical outlook" in 2015 next Friday, they said. The speakers for the session also include European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"The forum is expected to serve as an opportunity to elicit international support for the Korean government's policy on unification and to help the international community understand Seoul's foreign policy," Noh Kwang-il, the spokesman at the foreign ministry, told a regular press briefing.

The foreign ministry said Yun plans to hold talks with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on the sidelines of the forum.

The top diplomats may exchange views on global efforts to fight terrorism by Muslim extremists following a recent terrorist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France, according to officials.

Yun will also meet with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister, they added.

After returning to Seoul, Yun will fly to Germany earlier next month to attend a security conference to be held in Munich from Feb. 6-8.

This year's Munich Security Conference is expected to mainly deal with the collapse of the international order, security challenge and the fight against terrorism, according to its organizers.

It would mark the first time that a Seoul foreign minister participates in the forum, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)