U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will come to Seoul Monday to discuss North Korean issues, including the nuclear standoff and human rights conditions, as well as pending bilateral issues between South Korea and the United States, officials said.

Powell will arrive in Seoul on his chartered plane from Beijing in the evening and is scheduled to hold foreign ministers’ talks with his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki-moon after paying a courtesy call to President Roh Moo-hyun tomorrow.

During the top diplomats’ meeting, the two countries are expected to discuss a wide range of topics from the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear arms programs and the North Korean Human Rights Act to Seoul-Washington alliance and an early conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA).

``Resuming the stalled six-party talks on the nuclear standoff will be high on the agenda,’’ said an official at South Korea’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.

Powell will hold a joint press conference with Ban after their meeting at the ministry in downtown Seoul, and is scheduled to meet a group of 30 South Korean university students before leaving the country.

With the U.S. presidential race just around the corner, Powell’s successive visits to Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul drew much attention as there seemed to be no particular reason for any hurried consultation with allies.

But some officials and experts still expect his visits will play an important role in resolving the 24-month-long nuclear impasse as he comes from Beijing after meeting top Chinese officials, who have recently met North Korea’s number two man, Kim Yong-nam.

``All the other parties are making diplomatic efforts to bring North Korea back to the negotiation table right after the Nov. 2 U.S. election,’’ another ministry official told The Korea Times. ``Maybe we can hear about the North’s position through the U.S. official.’’

While visiting Japan on Saturday, Powell rejected Pyongyang’s latest demand that the U.S. drop its ``hostile’’ policy toward it and agree to other steps before the stalled talks resume.

``To put forward these kinds of conditions, which may lead to yet another set of conditions, is not the way to approach this problem,’’ he told reporters.

North Korea’s nuclear ambition has been the focus of multilateral talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, Russia and China. But the North boycotted a round scheduled for September, citing several reasons including the U.S. hostile policy and the recent disclosure of nuclear experiments conducted in South Korea in the past.

During his two-day stay, Powell is also expected to laud Seoul’s dispatch of about 3,600 troops to Iraq, reconfirm U.S. support for the bilateral alliance, including its commitment to the defense of South Korea, and state clearly that the U.S. does not oppose reconciliation between the two Koreas or want to interfere with this process.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr