SEOUL -- South Korea and Afghanistan will sign a treaty in New York this week to normalize diplomatic ties between them, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

"South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo and his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah are set to ink the pact in New York on Thursday," said Yoo Euy-sang, director of Southeast Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry.

Yoo said the South Korean Embassy in Pakistan will handle diplomatic affairs with Afghanistan before a mission is opened in Kabul, AFP reported.

Han, current president of the UN General Assembly, is now in the United States for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and to attend the world economic forum to open in New York on Thursday.

South Korea and Afghanistan broke diplomatic ties in 1978 when a communist regime took power in Kabul.