Religious leaders from Koreas agree to meet regularly

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- Religious leaders of South and North Korea met in Pyongyang and agreed to meet regularly in a bid to help ease cross-border tensions, the North's media said Thursday. The development comes as South Korea, apparently shifting its policy, is seeking to open new channels of dialogue with its communist neighbor. Inter-Korean contact has almost been suspended in the past several years. In a joint statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), religious leaders from the two Koreas said they "will regularly hold meetings to boost dialogue and cooperation between themselves and actively conduct a movement to achieve the unity of believers and reunification," They also agreed to "make positive efforts to defuse antagonism and distrust, tension and confrontation between compatriots, remove the danger of war and ensure durable peace," the KCNA said in a report, monitored in Seoul. A group of seven South Korean religious leaders representing Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists and other indigenous religions flew to North Korea by way of China Wednesday, saying they will try to promote peace on the divided Korean Peninsula. As were other recent South Korean civilian trips to North Korea, this week's travel was approved by the Seoul government. No South Koreans can visit North Korea without prior government approval, which is rare. In Pyongyang, the South Korean religious leaders met the North's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, as well as their counterparts in the country, the KCNA report said. Earlier in the day, the South Korean visitors held a meeting with their North Korean counterparts, including Jang Jae-on, chairman of the North's Religious Believers Council of Korea, the report said. Until recently, no South Koreans were allowed to visit North Korea. Inter-Korean ties dipped to their lowest level in decades following two deadly North Korean provocations last year that left a total of 50 people killed. Since this month, however, South Korea has permitted some civilian leaders to visit the North for religious and cultural exchanges. Last week, South Korean orchestra conductor Chung Myung-whun visited the North for discussions on musical exchanges. Seoul's Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik, who was named to the post late last month, has said that he will explore ways to exert "flexibility" in dealing with the North.