Report: North Korean Leader to Visit South

S E O U L, South Korea, Sept. 12 -- Top Korean officials have agreed toarrange a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong II to South Koreanext spring, a state news agency said.

The agreement was reached late today by Kim Yong Sun, avisiting envoy of the North Korean leader, and his South Koreancounterpart, Lim Dong-won, Yonhap news agency said.

Separately, the two Koreas are expected to hold a first-evermeeting of defense ministers to discuss tension-easing measureslate this month or early next month in Hong Kong, Yonhap said,citing unnamed government officials.

Seoul officials were not immediately available for comment. Butthey had earlier said Kim Jong Il was expected to visit South Koreanext spring, at the latest.

Envoy Discusses Planned Spring Visit

The North’s envoy arrived in Seoul Monday via a direct air routefrom Pyongyang for a four-day visit to discuss the visit by KimJong Il and other issues.

Today, he flew to Cheju island off the southern tip of theKorean Peninsula, which Kim Jong Il reportedly wanted to visitduring his planned South Korea trip.

Kim Yong Sun and Lim, head of the National Intelligence Serviceand special adviser to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung,coordinated and sat in on the first-ever inter-Korea summit inJune.

Kim Yong Sun plans to visit a steel mill and a historic cityWednesday. He will wind up his visit Thursday after paying acourtesy call on Kim Dae-jung.

Kim Jong Il promised to visit Seoul in return for Kim Dae-jung’svisit to Pyongyang in June.

Milestone in Korean Cold War

His visit to South Korea would mark another milestone in decadesof Cold War relations between the two Koreas, which had beendivided into the communist North and the pro-Western South in 1945.

The Koreas fought a three-year war in the early 1950s and havenever signed a peace treaty. Their border is the world’s mostheavily fortified, with nearly 2 million troops deployed on bothsides.

Inter-Korea relations have warmed significantly since the Junesummit, during which their leaders pledged to put the past behindand work together for peace.