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N. Korean leader to visit S. Korea next spring, report says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Top officials of the two Koreas have agreed to arrange a promised visit to the South by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and for it to take place by next spring, the state news agency reported Wednesday.

The agreement was reached late Tuesday by Kim Yong Sun, a visiting special envoy of the North Korean leader, and his South Korean counterpart, Lim Dong-won, Yonhap news agency said.

Separately, the two Koreas are expected to hold a meeting of defense ministers, the first such meeting, to discuss tension-easing measures late this month or early next month in Hong Kong, Yonhap said, citing government officials it did not identify.

Seoul officials were not immediately available for comment. But they had earlier said Kim Jong Il was expected to visit South Korea by next spring, at the latest.

MESSAGE BOARD North and South Korea

Kim Yong Sun flew direct to Seoul on Monday from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang for a four-day visit to South Korea to discuss Kim Jong Il's visit and other issues.

On Tuesday, he flew to Cheju island off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, which Kim Jong Il reportedly wants to visit during his planned South Korea trip.

Kim Yong Sun and Lim, head of the National Intelligence Service and special advisor to President Kim Dae-jung, coordinated and sat in on the first-ever inter-Korea summit in June.

Kim Yong Sun planned to visit a steel mill and a historic city Wednesday. He was to wind up his visit Thursday after paying a courtesy call on Kim Dae-jung.

Kim Jong Il promised to visit Seoul in return for Kim Dae-jung's visit to Pyongyang in June.

His visit to South Korea would mark another milestone in decades of Cold War relations between the two Koreas, which had been divided into the communist North and the pro-Western South in 1945.

The Koreas fought a three-year war in the early 1950s and have never signed a peace treaty. Their border is the world's most heavily fortified, with nearly 2 million troops deployed on both sides.

Inter-Korea relations have warmed significantly since the June summit, during which their leaders pledged to put the past behind and work together for peace.

The Koreas have since stopped propaganda broadcasts against each other and reopened border liaison offices. They allowed 200 people to cross the border in August for temporary family reunions. Two more reunions are scheduled before the year's end.

In early September, South Korea repatriated 63 convicted North Korean spies and guerrillas.

The Koreas also have agreed to reconnect a cross-border railway and let their athletes march together behind a unification flag during the opening ceremonies at the Sydney Olympics.

Kim Yong Sun heads the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a semiofficial organization which handles the North's policy with South Korea and other countries.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
North Korea: Politics and Government
North Korea
South-North Korean Summit
UniKorea

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