Mike Pompeo shelves Seoul trip

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled a planned visit to South Korea, the State Department announced Sunday, after President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus.

The State Department released an update on Pompeo's planned Asia visit, which included a single travel itinerary to Tokyo from Sunday to Wednesday, Yonhap reports.

The update did not include the previously announced trips to South Korea and Mongolia.

The State Department earlier said the top U.S. diplomat would visit South Korea for a two-day stay starting Wednesday after stopping by Ulaanbaatar following his trip to Tokyo, where he will attend a four-way meeting with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in what is known as the Quad.

"Secretary Pompeo expects to be traveling to Asia again in October and will work to reschedule visits on that trip, that is now just a few weeks off," the statement said.

Seoul's foreign ministry had said South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Pompeo were set to hold talks Thursday to discuss bilateral relations, the Korean Peninsula situation and regional and global issues. Pompeo was also expected to pay a courtesy call to South Korean President Moon Jae In..

The last time Pompeo visited Seoul was in June 2019, when he accompanied Trump to the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.