[USFK Forums] Ex-President Kim postpones visit to N. Korea [Yonhap]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Monday, February 20, 2006

(2nd LD) Ex-President Kim postpones planned visit to N. Korea

2006/02/20 09:49

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has decided to postpone his planned trip to North Korea until after local elections in late May, apparently as a result of claims from the main opposition party that he is trying to influence the elections, the former president's aide said Monday.

Kim is to officially announce the changed timing later in the day, according to the aide.

The former president, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, originally planned to visit the communist state in April. His first trip to the North was in 2000 for the first-ever inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The changed timing of the trip comes after weeks of controversy over whether the government was seeking to influence the outcome of elections on May 31 through the former president's visit, an event that is expected to highlight rapprochement between the rival Koreas.

The countries have been divided along one of the world's most heavily armed borders since the end of 1950-53 Korean War, and since the fratricidal war ended with a cease fire are technically still at war.

Choi Kyung-hwan, Kim's aide, acknowledged that the postponement followed the opposition's demand.

"It is former President Kim's belief that it is most ideal for his North Korea visit to be made by public agreement (or approval)," he said.

The government, which has long denied intending to use the former president's North Korea visit for political gain, said it will inform the North of the change in plan.

"The government was notified on Sunday of Kim's wish to postpone the timing of his North Korea visit to June. We plan to relay his wish to the North in the near future," an official at the Unification Ministry said.

The former president said at the beginning of the year that he wished to visit Pyongyang again in April to help break the impasse in international negotiations over North Korea's nuclear arms programs.

North Korea has been boycotting the six-nation negotiations over its nuclear weapons program since November, citing what it claims to be U.S. hostility toward it.

The talks also involve the United States, Japan, China, Russia and South Korea.

However, whether Kim's trip to the North would take place in June has yet to be seen, as the North has not responded to his earlier request to visit Pyongyang in April.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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