SEOUL -- The new U.S. envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is expected to arrive in Seoul on Saturday ahead of a three-way meeting that includes Japan, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.

Noh Kyu-duk, the South Korean Foreign Ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will participate in the talks. Tokyo will send Takehiro Funakoshi, the director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.

The three sides are expected to discuss a response to North Korea. The South Korean Foreign Ministry official downplayed the prospects that Kim during the five-day visit would come into contact with North Korean officials, possibly at the Panmunjom border village.

"That sort of schedule is not being pursued," said the official.

Kim, known as a veteran diplomat well versed in the U.S.'s North Korea policy, previously served as the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. President Joe Biden announced Kim's appointment last month during South Korean President Moon Jae-in's visit to Washington.

The Biden administration said it will seek a "calibrated, practical approach" with North Korea that is open to dialogue with the rogue state. But the finer points of the policy have yet to be disclosed.

Pyongyang has not indicated any official reaction to Biden's agenda. The U.S. has tried to make contact with North Korea since about February, but the regime has apparently not responded.