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Kim Dae-jung and Yoshiro Mori Hold Talks
South Korea and Japan Monday agreed to strengthen their friendly and cooperative relations and pledged to continue coordination of their policies on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
At his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who arrived here Monday morning for a one-day visit, President Kim Dae-jung voiced his thanks for Japan's support and cooperation for the inter-Korean summit slated for June 12-14 in Pyongyang.
The two leaders agreed on close cooperation to make the inter-Korean summit a success and that the normalization talks between Pyongyang and Tokyo serve the interests of both sides.
Mori asked Kim to express Japan's position on the DPRK's development of missiles to Kim Jong-il, chairman of the DPRK's National Defense Commission.
President Kim urged Japan to pass the bill to allow ethnic Koreans in Japan to vote for local elections and called for efforts to reduce his nation's trade deficit with Japan.Mori said that his government will seriously examine the issues.
The two leaders also discussed ways to cooperate in international activities, such as the Asia-Europe Meeting in Seoul, the G-8 summit in Okinawa and the 2002 World Soccer Cup.
It is Mori's first visit to Seoul since he became prime minister last month after his predecessor Keizo Obuchi suffered a fatal stroke while in office.
The Japanese prime minister is expected to meet his South Korean counterpart Lee Han-dong Monday afternoon.
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