SEOUL – The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States will have a working-group meeting this week in Seoul ahead of next week’s groundbreaking ceremony for the inter-Korean railway and road connection, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Stephen Biegun, the US special representative on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) policy, will arrive in the ROK on Wednesday on a four-day trip.

The working group was launched on Nov 20 between the two allies to regularly communicate on the DPRK issues

During the trip, Biegun will hold a working-group meeting with Lee Do-hoon, ROK special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.

READ MORE: ROK consults US, UN on rail, road link with DPRK

Lee and Biegun will discuss issues including the DPRK, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and inter-Korean relations while coordinating ways for substantive progress in the denuclearization and peace regime, according to the ministry.

The working group was launched on Nov 20 between the two allies to regularly communicate on the DPRK issues.

The senior-level meeting between Seoul and Washington would come ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony on Dec 26 at the Panmun Station in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong to modernize and eventually connect railway and road across the inter-Korean border.

ALSO READ: ROK, DPRK gain UN sanction exemptions for joint rail survey

The two Koreas completed an 18-day joint inspection on the DPRK railways along the western and eastern peninsula on Monday. The two sides already conducted a joint survey on the western road earlier this year.

ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un agreed to modernize and connect rail and road across the border after their first summit in April at the truce village of Panmunjom.

After their third summit in Pyongyang in September, the two leaders agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for the connections before the end of this year.