N.K. delegation, Seoul unification minister to hold talks

SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister will meet a senior
North Korean official Sunday in a rare government-level contact between the two
countries, the ministry said.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek is scheduled to meet Kim Yang-gon, who as head
of the North's Workers' Party unification front department is his counterpart.
Kim is a member of a six-member North Korean delegation who came to Seoul on
Friday on a two-day trip to pay respects to late South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung.
Hyun will arrive at the hotel in northern Seoul where the delegation was staying
at around 10 p.m. for the talks, ministry officials said.
The North Korean delegation was holding a breakfast meeting with former South
Korean officials who handled inter-Korean affairs during the Kim Dae-jung and
administration.
"I hope that the government can use this opportunity to mend the South-North
relationship," said Chung Dong-young, an opposition lawmaker and a former
unification minister. who arrived at the hotel for the breakfast meeting.
The North Korean officials _ Kim Ki-nam and Kim Yang-gon _ are among the powerful
figures in North Korea that can hold talks with Kim Jong-il any time on any
subject, Chung added.
Kim Ki-nam, a party secretary and the head of the visiting delegation, is known
as a close aide to the North's leader, spotted frequently accompanying him on
public tours. Kim Yang-gon is in charge of Pyongyang's policy on Seoul and
inter-Korean economic cooperation projects, and is known as a key diplomatic
policy advisor to the North's leader.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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