U.S. intel official visits South Korea

SEOUL, May 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. intelligence official is in South Korea to collect information on North Korea and other regional issues, a South Korean official said Tuesday.

The week-long unannounced trip of Joseph DeTrani, North Korea mission manager for the Director of National Intelligence, includes meetings at the presidential office, the Foreign Ministry and the National Intelligence Service, South Korean's Yonhap News Agency reported.

Sources told Yonhap that more U.S. and Chinese intelligence officials are visiting South Korea on information-gathering missions since reports surfaced about the ill health of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il.

DeTrani, a former U.S. envoy in talks concerning North Korea's nuclear program, is "responsible for integrating collection and analysis on North Korea across the intelligence community, and planning and ensuring the implementation of related strategies," U.S. intelligence officials said.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul refused to confirm DeTrani's trip, saying it does not release information on unannounced trips by U.S. officials as a rule, Yonhap said.