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DPRK Leader Kim Jong-Il to Visit Seoul in August: Report
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s supreme leader Kim Jong-Il is to visit Seoul in August following the planned summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in Pyongyang in June, a newspaper report said Saturday in Seoul.
Kim Jong-Il is to arrive in Seoul in time for the 55th anniversary of the end of World War II, which brought an end to Japan's 35-year colonial rule over the Korean peninsula, the Dong-A daily said.
The DPRK leader made a secret trip to China this week, reportedly to discuss Beijing's views on the historic inter-Korean summit scheduled to be held June 12-14.
"During his trip to Beijing this week, Chairman Kim briefed Chinese President Jiang Zemin on his plan to visit Seoul," the daily quoted an unidentified diplomatic source in Beijing as saying.
"One of the purposes of his trip to Beijing was to coordinate opinions about the Seoul visit," he said.
Unification Minister Park Jae-Kyu said, however, that the two sides have not yet agreed on Kim Jong-Il's return visit here.
"It would be a good idea if the president invites him to Seoul during the summit in Pyongyang," Park said.
A 30-member South Korean advance team is currently in Pyongyang to prepare for the inter-Korean summit.
The two sides have agreed that the meeting's agenda will include efforts to boost national reconciliation and unity, exchange and cooperation and peace and national unification.
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