Koreas agree on summit agenda

SEOUL, MAY 18. North and South Korea today wrapped up month-long negotiations on the agenda and procedural matters for a historic summit in Pyongyang on June 12-14.

Vice-Ministers from the two Koreas signed an agreement on 15 procedural items, including media coverage, at the fifth round of talks held on the southern side of Panmunjom, the U.N. truce village along the demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula. The two leaders will have at least two to three face- to-face meetings to discuss steps to keep peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and expand cooperation and exchanges, South Korean Government officials said.

The South Korean President, Mr. Kim Dae-Jung, will bring a delegation of 130 on his visit to Pyongyang, including 50 South Korean mediapersons, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. ``I expect both North and South Korea to open a new chapter of Korean history based on mutual trust,'' Mr. Yang Young-Shik, head of the South Korean delegation, said after signing the agreement. ``We finally achieved an historic agreement and will make thorough preparations to welcome our guest (from the South),'' replied Mr. Kim Ryong-Song, Mr. Yang's North Korean counterpart.

Under the agreement signed today, President Kim can either take a North Korean car across the heavily militarised border through Panmunjom or fly direct to Pyongyang from Seoul. There are no direct air or communication links between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.

The South Korean delegation will be allowed to use an inter- Korean hotline and satellite communication channels while staying in Pyongyang from June 11-14. Pyongyang will also allow South Korean mediapersons to broadcast summit events live to South Korea using their own equipment, the statement said.

South Korea is to send a 30-member advance team to North Korea on May 31 to look around the summit site and hammer out details of communication, media coverage, security and protocol for the historic meeting.

Meanwhile, a South Korean ship carrying the first delivery of a promised 200,000 tonnes of fertiliser left the southwestern port of Yosu today for North Korea's Nampo port. Seoul announced earlier this month it was providing the fertiliser to famine- struck North Korea from mid-May as a humanitarian gesture ahead of the summit.

Next month's summit will be the first between the two countries. They remain in a state of conflict because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce, not a peace agreement.

- Reuters

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