S. Korea Proposes High-level Meeting with DPRK

South Korea on Wednesday invited DPRK to send a high-level delegation to Seoul next week to follow up discussions started at a historic summit of their leaders in June.

In a letter sent to his DPRK's counterpart, Hong Song Nam, Prime Minister Lee Han-dong proposed that the two governments open a ministerial-level dialogue in Seoul on July 27-29.

The letter, sent to the North through the border village of Panmunjom, suggested that each delegation have five members and be headed by a Cabinet-level minister

If held, the meeting would mark the first visit to Seoul by a senior DPRK official since 1992.

There was no immediate response from DPRK. But most South Korean newspapers, quoting a source they did not identify, said both Koreas had already agreed on the venue and date for the meeting through unofficial contacts.

A thaw is spreading rapidly on the Korean Peninsula after the June 13-15 summit in Pyongyang, during which leaders of the two sides agreed to work together to avoid confrontation and promote reconciliation.

``The ministerial-level talks will have broad discussions on how to implement the historic summit agreements,'' said Kim Hyong-ki, a chief policy coordinator at Seoul's Unification Ministry.

Kim said he expected the ministerial-level talks would lead to a series of lower-level working dialogue channels to discuss military, economic and sports exchanges.

No DPRK government officials have visited Seoul since 1992 when the prime ministers of the two sides visited each other's capital for a series of reconciliation talks.

The 1992 talks produced an agreement in which both sides pledged to renounce hostilities. But relations chilled again amid suspicions over DPRK's nuclear program. The Koreas have never signed a peace treaty since their 1950-53 war and they share the world's most heavily armed border.

Last month's summit was the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in relations between the two Koreas, which were partitioned into the peninsula in 1945.

Also Wednesday, Seoul's Culture and Tourism Ministry said 50 presidents of South Korean dailies and other news organizations planned to visit DPRK Aug. 5-12.

They were scheduled to meet DPRK leader Kim, who had invited them to Pyongyang during his summit with South Korean President Kim, said Han Jae-min, a ministry spokesman. Culture and Tourism Minister Park Jie-won will accompany the newspaper presidents, he said.

As part of the summit agreements, the two Koreas are pushing to exchange 100 aging people each in mid-August for temporary family reunions after a half century of separation.

Both sides also ceased propaganda broadcasts against each other.

On Monday, South Korea proposed holding a parliamentary meeting with DPRK to discuss exchanges between the legislative bodies of the two sides.

South Korea is encouraging its companies to invest in DPRK to avoid the type of costly reunification that occurred in Germany. But it wants Pyongyang to adopt market reforms and sign agreements to facilitate and protect such investment.





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