Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will visit North and South Korea early next month to discuss ways to reduce nuclear tensions on the divided peninsula, officials said in Jakarta yesterday.

 

The president will be in the North Korean capital on June 5-6, where he hopes to discuss the nuclear crisis with leader Kim Jong-il and other senior government officials, said Garibaldi Sujatmiko, head of the presidential press office.

 

However, he declined to comment on whether it has been confirmed that Kim would attend meetings with the Indonesian president.

 

Susilo will then visit Seoul on June 7-9 to meet with his counterpart Roh Moo-hyun.

 

Ties have warmed significantly since a meeting of North and South Korean leaders in 2000, but tensions persist over the North's nuclear ambitions. The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty.

 

Indonesia is also trying to arrange reconciliatory talks between high-ranking North and South Korean officials in Bandung, a city 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Jakarta, later this year. Further details about those talks were not available.

 

Susilo postponed his visit to North and South Korea last month because of scheduling problems.

 

Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, was a close friend of Kim's late father, Kim Il-sung.

 

Kim Dae-jung to visit North Korea in June

 

In another development, South and North Korea agreed yesterday that former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung will visit Pyongyang in late June, news reports said.

 

It will be his second trip to the North. During his first trip in June 2000, he held an unprecedented summit as the South's president with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The visit was widely regarded as a milestone in the inter-Korean history as it paved way for peaceful cooperation and exchanges in various areas between the two sides.

 

"The former president's visit will take place in the latter half of June for three nights and four days," Yang Chang-seok, spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, told reporters.

 

The two sides agreed to continue negotiations on specific dates for the visit in North Korea's border city of Kaesong at the end of May, he added.

 

The agreement came after a two-day inter-Korean meeting in North Korea's Mount Geumgang on details of the former president's visit.

 

However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how Kim Dea-jung will travel to Pyongyang although he has said earlier that he hopes to go to the North by train.

 

"Regarding the route of travel, our side relayed (Kim's) message that he wishes travel to North Korea by train, while the North proposed a direct air route," Yang said.

 

Kim Dae-jung is expected to meet with Kim Jong-il again during his trip. The two sides agreed earlier this month to have test runs of cross-border railways on May 25.

 

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, May 18, 2006)