An expert on East Asian relations has suggested that North Korea could test-fire its inter-continental ballistic missile during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's four-nation Asian tour.

Secretary Clinton leaves the U.S. Sunday to visit Korea, Japan, Indonesia and China. She is scheduled to stay in Seoul on Thursday and Friday.

The prediction came at a seminar in Washington D.C. on Thursday by Georgetown University scholar Balbina Hwang.

She is a former senior special advisor to ambassador Christopher Hill, who worked as Washington's chief nuclear envoy to North Korea under the George W. Bush administration.

Hwang claimed that Pyongyang intends to get the White House's attention with the potential missile launch and also predicted that the North will try to come between Seoul and Washington.

She added, however, that nothing will change even if Pyongyang carries out its missile test. In that case, she recommended that Washington should stay away from engaging directly with the reclusive state. Instead, she said that the international community should place sanctions on the regime.

She noted that Pyongyang has tried to engineer an estrangement between Seoul and the U.S. before, during the Bill Clinton administration.

Arirang News