According to the U.S. Department of State on Wednesday, Sean O'Neill, senior bureau official for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is embarking on a trip to Cambodia, Japan and Vietnam from Wednesday to next Friday, but Korea has been excluded.
O'Neill will meet with Vietnamese government officials in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the two countries' "shared interests" under their comprehensive strategic partnership, before attending the annual U.S.-ASEAN Dialogue slated for early next week in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
He will then fly to Tokyo to discuss "bilateral priorities to strengthen..... alliance and economic partnerships" with Japanese officials.
The development has raised concerns about South Korea being repeatedly left out, amid a leadership vacuum in the aftermath of disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched Dec. 3 declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment early this month.
Earlier in March, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also skipped Seoul during his first tour of the Indo-Pacific region, making stops only in Japan and the Philippines.
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