Kurt Campbell

The U.S. State Department on Thursday announced details of Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell's scheduled visit to Asia, which does not include South Korea. Campbell will visit Japan and China next week after attending a conference of U.S. mission chiefs in East Asia and the Pacific in Honolulu this weekend.

It has been unprecedented for the State Department's East Asia point man to skip South Korea since Campbell's predecessor Christopher Hill was in office. Experts say it is all the harder to understand at a time when Seoul and Washington need to cooperate closely ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Seoul on Nov. 18-19 and bilateral U.S.-North Korea talks.

There is speculation that Campbell feels snubbed after he admitted having no idea about a "grand bargain" which President Lee Myung-bak suggested to solve the North Korean nuclear issue.

After Lee made the suggestion public last month, Campbell said, "Actually, I -- to be perfectly honest, I was not aware of that." When the press smelled a lack of coordination between Washington and Seoul, Lee said, "Who cares if a Mr. so-and-so denies knowledge" of a proposal that had been agreed between the leaders.

But the Foreign Ministry played down the issue, saying there is "no special meaning" to Campbell's decision. "Japan is at a special juncture when its administration has been replaced. And Campbell hasn't visited China at all since he was appointed to the post. He has priorities," a ministry official said. "When he visited Seoul and Tokyo in July, Campbell didn't stop over in Beijing."