SEOUL - The chief nuclear envoys from South Korea, Japan and the United States are arranging talks in mid-December in Seoul to discuss and coordinate measures in response to North Korea's growing nuclear threat, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday, quoting diplomatic and official sources.

With the UN Security Council expected to adopt a new sanctions resolution against North Korea Wednesday in New York following its fifth nuclear test in September, the envoys are expected to discuss, in the first such talks since June, their cooperation in dealing with Pyongyang's missile and nuclear threats.

The nuclear negotiators will also likely discuss the possibility of additional provocations by North Korea amid political uncertainty in the United States following Donald Trump's recent win in the presidential election, as well as a potential leadership vacuum in South Korea amid a corruption and influence-peddling scandal plaguing President Park Geun Hye.

Kim Hong Kyun, the South Korean Foreign Ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, Kenji Kanasugi, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Joseph Yun, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, are expected to attend the talks.

It will be the first meeting of its kind since Yun succeeded Sung Kim to the post in October.

North Korea has heightened tensions by drastically increasing its nuclear and missile testing this year. It conducted the latest nuclear test on Sept. 9 following another in January, and has also carried out more than 20 ballistic missile tests this year.

The latest UN resolution would be the sixth raft of UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since its first nuclear test in 2006.