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S.Korean President Urges DPRK Top Leader to Visit Seoul
President Kim Dae-jung Thursday urged Democratic People's Republic of Korean (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Il to announce his schedule of his Seoul's visit on the occasion of the first anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit.
"I sincerely hope that Chairman Kim Jong Il will make clear whether or not he will visit Seoul as he promised in the joint declaration issued in June last year," Kim said at a tea party hosted for 150 foreign correspondents at his presidential palace Blue House here.
It was the first time that the South Korean President urged the DPRK leader to make clear his Seoul visit schedule after the summit held in Pyongyang on June 13-15 last year.
Kim pointed out that U.S. President George W. Bush showed his expectation of DPRK leader Kim Jong Il's visit to Seoul in the South Korean-U.S. joint statement issued in Washington last March when he visited the United States.
As the U.S. review of the DPRK policy is in the final stage, prospects for resuming the DPRK-U.S. talks are high as Bush has publicly supported his sunshine policy and highly evaluated the achievements made so far in inter-Korean relations, Kim said.
Although the inter-Korean dialogue is temporarily stalemated now, Kim said, the sunshine policy would bring about inter-Korean peace, exchange and cooperation for the accomplishment of the eventual objective of reunification.
Meanwhile, the South Korean president reiterated that it is very important that inter-Korean relations should improve in parallel with the improvement of DPRK-U.S. ties.
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