The USTR ambassador's mission in the country will be to monitor pending trade issues between Korea and the United States prior to a state visit by US President George Bush to Korea in February, according to Korean government sources Thursday.

Officials from Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) is expected to meet Huntsman and exchange opinions on a broad range of issues, such as the Korea-US investment agreement and protection of intellectual property rights.

Huntsman has spent much of his career in public service. He had once served as the US ambassador to Singapore at a young age.

(Choi Woo-Seok, wschoi@chosun.com