U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says a high-ranking American diplomat will travel to North Korea for talks with the isolated regime, despite this week's naval clash between North and South Korea.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses a press conference after attending APEC ministerial meetings in Singapore, 11 Nov 2009Clinton made the comment Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore.

The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday that it has agreed to send special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang in an effort to revive the six-nation negotiations on the North's nuclear weapons program.  Pyongyang has boycotted the forum since April.  

Warships from each of the bitter Korean rivals exchanged fire Tuesday in the waters off the peninsula's west coast.  

Clinton also called on Asian nations to encourage military-ruled Burma to conduct democratic elections in 2010.  

Two high-ranking U.S. officials visited Burma last week for talks with the country's ruling generals, as well as detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

It was the highest level of meetings between U.S. and Burmese officials in 14 years.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.