The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong-Il, met in Pyongyang Thursday evening with South Korea's presidential envoy, Lim Dong-Won, spokesman for the Unification Ministry of South Korea, Kim Hong-Jae, said.
Lim Dong-Won delivered a letter from President Kim Dae-Jung during a dinner with Kim Jong-Il, which called for peace on the Korean peninsula and inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, the spokesman said.
The dinner was held at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse where the envoy has been staying since his arrival in Pyongyang on Wednesday, he said.
It was reported that Lim would return to Seoul through the truce village of Panmunjom on Friday afternoon.
Lim had held talks on Wednesday afternoon with the secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of DPRK, Kim Yong-Sun, and other officials. They had "a wide-ranging discussion on the grave situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula and issues related to the inter-Korean relations," a report said.
The inter-Korean ties, which experienced a thaw after the historic Pyongyang summit and the publication of the North-South Joint Declaration in June 2000, have been aggravated since United States President George W. Bush took office last year.
(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2002)
