Ivanov is to arrive in Seoul late Wednesday, hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Cho Young-Kil Thursday and will also meet President Roh Moo-Hyun before leaving on Friday, the ministry said in a statement.

The Ivanov-Cho meeting will focus on "the recent security developments on the Korean peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region," it said.

Talks between the two defense chiefs will address how to ease the crisis over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programs, ministry officials said.

Ivanov, who has never visited South Korea, will become the third Russian defense chief to visit to Seoul since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1990, they said.

SPACE.WIRE