CAMBODIA is set to sign an agreement on energy and mining exploration with South Korea when the country’s President Lee Myung-bak makes a state visit to the Kingdom late this month, a government spokesman said Monday.

Shin Jae-hyun, South Korea’s visiting ambassador in charge of energy and natural resources cooperation, held a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday to discuss plans for joint study agreements in Cambodia, said Eang Sophalleth, the prime minister’s spokesman.

But further details of the proposed deal were not immediately available, including whether the energy deal would apply to offshore or onshore exploration.

Cambodia has a number of onshore concessions that remain unexplored, although the government is only accepting offshore bids for disputed Area IV in the Gulf of Thailand.

Eang Sophalleth said that Cambodia and South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on energy and mining resources when Prime Minister Hun Sen visited Seoul in June.

Hun Sen expressed hope that, after the agreement is signed, South Korea and Cambodia will use the Kingdom’s energy and mining resources for its further development, said Eang Sophalleth.

“The two countries have established a joint study commission,” Eang Sophalleth quoted Shin Jae-hyun as saying.

Officials at the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh declined Monday to give the date of the president’s visit, pending an official announcement, but press reports said it would be from October 22 to 23.