Kim Jong-II to visit Seoul this year?

SEOUL, JULY 8. North Korea's leader, Mr. Kim Jong-II, is expected to visit Seoul at the end of this year or early next year, the South Korean President, Mr. Kim Dae-jung has said.

``I think National Defence Committee Chairman Kim Jong-II will visit Seoul late this year or early next year,'' the South Korean President was quoted as saying late yesterday.

He made the statement at a dinner with a group of lawmakers from the ruling Millennium Democratic Party at the presidential Blue House late yesterday, said the MDP spokesman.

The South's Unification Minister, Mr. Park Jae-kyu, said earlier that North and South Korea would hold high-level talks this month to prepare for Mr. Kim Jong-II's visit.

Mr. Kim Jong-II promised to visit Seoul following Mr. Kim Dae- jung's visit to Pyongyang last month.

The leaders of the two Koreas held a historic summit in Pyongyang and signed a declaration on ending decades of hostility and moving towards reconciliation and peace.

They also agreed the two sides should persist with a political dialogue.

- AFP

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Section  : International
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