South Korean delegation heads for Pyongyang
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-14 14:15

A delegation of 300 South Koreans flew Tuesday to Pyongyang to join celebrations marking the anniversary of the first-and-only summit between leaders of the divided Koreas amid continuing tension on the divided peninsula over the North's nucear weapons ambitions.

South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young (L) and his predecessor Lim Dong-won, who played a major role in organising the inter-Korean summit in June 2000, wave as they leave for North Korea in Seoul June 14, 2005. South Korea sent a 40-member government delegation, led by Chung, to Pyongyang to attend ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the historic 2000 inter-Korea summit in events spread over four days. [Reuters]

Chung is expected to press the North to return to six-nation nuclear arms talks that have been stalled for nearly a year over Pyongyang's refusal to participate because of "hostile" U.S. policies. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States are seeking through those negotiations to convince the North to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young who leads the South's government delegation to Pyongyang, waves before leaving for North Korea's capital to join celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of the only summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung amid tension on the divided peninsula over the North's nuclear ambitions in Seoul, Tuesday, June 14, 2005. [AP]

"The joint event is especially meaningful as it comes at a crunch time for the Korean peninsula due to years of nuclear standoff," the delegation said in a statement released on their departure, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The summit opened a new era of cooperation between the two, which remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire. Since the 2000 meeting, some 10,000 relatives separated by the heavily armed border have held brief encounters and the two Koreas are working together at an industrial park just inside the North.

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