Aug 8, 2007, 12:47 GMT
Seoul - The second-ever summit meeting later this month between leaders of South and North Korea will bring about a normalization of relations said South Korea's President Roh Moo Hyun on Wednesday.
President Roh will travel to Pyongyang from August 28-30 for the first inter-Korean summit since June 2000 with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, it was announced Wednesday.
The preparations for the meeting should focus on 'making practical progress in Korean Peninsula denuclearization, inter-Korean peace, arms control and economic cooperation,' said Roh, whose office announced that the agenda and other details will be negotiated in working-level meetings next week in the border city of Kaesong.
'The second inter-Korean summit will help normalize inter-Korean relations and provide fresh momentum to improve North Korea's relations with international society.'
Talks are expected to revolve around achieving peace on the Korean peninsula and ending North Korea's nuclear programme.
North Korea confirmed the meeting between Kim and Roh, saying the meeting is of great importance because it opens a 'new phase of peace on the Korean Peninsula, co-prosperity of the nation and national reunification,' according to the government's Korean Central News Agency.
In South Korea, there was opposition criticism over the intent and timing of the summit.
'We oppose the South-North summit talks, whose timing, venue and procedures are all inappropriate,' said the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) in a statement.
Though implying the second inter-Korean summit is a ploy to influence December's presidential election, the GNP did acknowledge the meeting could encourage reconciliation with the communist North.
The United States, China and Japan welcomed Wednesday's announcement.
Joanne Moore, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, was quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news agency as saying the US welcomed and supported inter-Korean dialogue, adding that the US government hoped that the planned summit would lead to peace on the peninsula and an end to the North Korean nuclear weapons programme.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the initiative. The meeting represented an important opportunity to strengthen peace and security in the Korean peninsula and to promote inter-Korean reconciliation, he said.
The historic summit held seven years ago between then South Korean president Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim, also held in Pyongyang, led to rapprochement and reconciliation.
Kim Dae Jung received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to engage the communist North through the so-called 'sunshine policy.'
The government claims North Korea agreed to the meeting as a result of the progress made in the six-nation nuclear talks.
Delegates from the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas - met in Seoul Tuesday to discuss the logistics of shipping energy aid to North Korea as part of a February deal to shut down the communist nation's nuclear reactors. South Korea began the first energy shipments last month.
China's Foreign Ministry said it hopes the second summit between the two Koreas would lead to 'positive results,' reported Xinhua news agency.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lui Jianchao in Beijing expressed China's hope that the joint Korean summit would lead to 'positive results,' while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying he expected the summit to 'reduce the tensions on the Korean peninsula.'
North and South Korea are still technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
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