The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Seoul on Tuesday to meet with high-level South Korean officials including Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program and other issues, Seoul officials said Sunday.

IAEA director General Yukiya Amano’s visit here will be an opportunity to deepen cooperation between Seoul and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, particularly when Pyongyang is expected to carry out provocations, potentially including a nuclear test, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

IAEA, on its part, has been stepping up efforts to prevent the communist regime from further developing its nuclear capabilities.

Last month during its 59th general conference in Vienna, Austria, IAEA adopted a resolution urging the North to enforce its denuclearization commitments, refrain from conducting additional nuclear tests and renounce its policy of bolstering nuclear capabilities.

Despite such international calls for the North to stop its nuclear development, the communist state has hinted at the possibility of conducting a fourth nuclear test, saying that it would continue to strengthen its “nuclear deterrence” against the U.S.

Analysts here say that due to “technological motives,” the North might be tempted to push for another nuclear test. The North has called itself as a nuclear power in its constitution and adopted a policy of simultaneously developing nuclear arms and its economy.

Apart from his scheduled meeting with Yun, Amano will also attend a dinner reception, hosted by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, and meet with Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Yang-hee, , and Lee Un-chul, the chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

He will also meet Kim Jong-kyung, president of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. His meetings with all these ranking officials are expected to focus on bolstering bilateral cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the prevention of nuclear proliferation, observers said.

South Korea, the world’s fifth largest civil nuclear power with 24 nuclear reactors, joined IAEA as a member in 1957.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)