Representatives from North and South Korea on Wednesday agreed to a four-day visit by South Korea's former President Kim Dae-jung to the North Korean capital Pyongyang next month, but failed to set specific dates for the visit.
"(The sides) reached an agreement that the former president's visit will take place in the latter half of June for three nights and four days," Yang Chang-seok, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told reporters.
"However, they agreed to continue negotiating on specific dates for the visit in (the North Korean border town of) Kaesong at the end of the month," the spokesman added.
The agreement to "continue negotiating" came at the end of two-day talks at the North's Mount Geumgang, during which the North and South Korean officials tried to discuss details of Kim's planned visit to the North, including the timing and means of his travel.
They were also unable to reach an agreement on how the former president would travel to the communist state despite the former head of state's repeatedly saying he would like to travel by train.
"Regarding the route of travel, our side relayed (Kim's) message that he wishes to visit North Korea by train, while the North Korean side proposed using a direct air route," Yang said.
"Both sides agreed to continue negotiating."
The South Korean delegation, headed by the country's former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, was expected to cross the inter-Korean border back to the South around 4 p.m., according to the ministry spokesman.
Yang said the North and South Korean delegates agreed to hold a new round of negotiations in Kaesong before the end of the month, but they again failed to set dates for the new round.
The former president's planned visit to Pyongyang has been drawing keen attention as it is expected to help reduce tension between the divided Koreas while also providing an opportunity for the Seoul government to persuade the North to return to the stalled negotiations over its nuclear program.
Seoul's point man on North Korean affairs, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, has claimed Kim's second meeting with the North Korean leader would help break the prolonged stalemate in the nuclear talks because the former president is the only one "who can grab (the North Korean leader) Kim by the ear" and tell him to end his boycott.
The North has been staying away from the six-nation nuclear talks, also attended by the United States, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea, since a November round, citing what it claims to be a hostile U.S. policy toward its regime.
The former South Korean president held the historic meeting with the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il in the North Korean capital in 2000, which led to the current rapprochement between the Koreas, which have remained divided along the heavily-fortified inter-Korean border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Koreas also remain in a state of war as the fratricidal war ended only with an armistice treaty. Seoul May 17 (Yonhap News Agency)
North and South Korea agree to 4-day visit by former S. Korean president |
