Senior US diplomat Kurt Campbell was due in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il, a US embassy spokesman said.

Campbell, the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is the first US diplomat to visit North Korea's closest ally since the leader of the Stalinist state died from a heart attack on December 17.

Kim's death has sparked concerns over the stability of the isolated, nuclear-armed nation, where famine killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s and where severe food shortages persist.

"He (Campbell) is arriving today," a spokesman for the US embassy in Beijing told AFP.

He added Campbell would be meeting with senior officials on Wednesday "to discuss a range of important bilateral, regional, and global issues, including the latest developments related to North Korea and Burma."

China is also a key ally of Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has made tentative steps at reform by opening talks with the opposition and ethnic minorities.

But the future of North Korea is likely to dominate Campbell's trip, which will also take him to South Korea and Japan before he returns to Washington on Saturday.

In the hours after the announcement of Kim's death on December 19, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held phone talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the importance of ensuring security on the Korean peninsula.

China has thrown its support behind Kim's successor, his young son Jong-Un, as it seeks to ensure stability in the isolated nation.