US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will visit Japan and South Korea next week.

The US mission to the UN announced on Monday that Thomas-Greenfield will visit the two countries from Sunday through April 20.

She will first visit South Korea and then Japan. In Tokyo, Thomas-Greenfield will meet with the government's senior officials and is expected to confirm strengthening collaboration between the three countries which are currently members of the UN Security Council. Issues to be discussed will include North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.

The ambassador will also meet the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.

Thomas-Greenfield will also visit Nagasaki, one of the two Japanese cities hit by the 1945 US atomic bombings. The US mission to the UN says that in Nagasaki the ambassador will "engage with local officials and students on a range of regional and global opportunities and challenges."

US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel visited the city last December.