Top US military officer due in Korea next week

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit South Korea next week as part of his Northeast Asia tour, a defense source here said Thursday.

He is scheduled to arrive on Sunday from Japan, the first leg of his upcoming tour, according to the source who requested anonymity as the Pentagon has yet to announce the schedule.

Joseph Dunford (EPA-Yonhap)

On Monday, Dunford is expected to pay a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in and meet with top defense officials here to discuss North Korea and alliance issues. He will then head to China later in the day, said the source.

His trip comes at a time when tensions on the peninsula are heightening amid the North's provocative acts, highlighted by the test-launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

In recent phone talks, Dunford and his South Korean counterpart Gen. Lee Sun-jin discussed "military response options," Dunford's office announced. It did not elaborate. (Yonhap)