North Koreans visit South Korea's legislature
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-16 15:50

North Korean officials visited South Korea's National Assembly for the first time Tuesday in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation, AP.

The parliamentary visit came on the final of three days of joint celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

"Real and substantial cooperative relations between the South and the North start now," National Assembly Speaker Kim One-ki said. "The South and the North should combine their strong points and complement each other's shortcomings."

Kim proposed talks between South and North Korean lawmakers that would provide a "most appropriate channel to deliver and raise understanding of the North's views" for South Koreans, according to pool reports. He promised to implement laws that would help Seoul and Pyongyang proceed with their joint projects.

Also Tuesday, the North Korean delegation visited former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was hospitalized last week with bacterial pneumonia. Kim, in a hospital gown, shook hands with North Korean head delegate Kim Ki Nam, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, who delivered get-well wishes from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Kim Dae-jung met his North Korean counterpart in June 2000 at an unprecedented summit between leaders of the divided countries, which remain technically at war.

"If the (summit) marked the beginning of the South-North cooperation, this time, it provides a chance to pledge a leap forward," Kim told his visitors.

The two Koreas were to wrap up their three-day celebrations Tuesday evening with a farewell dinner and soccer match between their national women's teams. Their men's soccer teams played an exhibition match Sunday at the start of the joint events, where the South beat the North 3-0.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will host a luncheon Wednesday for the North Korean delegates before their departure later that day, Roh's spokesman Kim Man-soo said. He declined to say whether the North Koreans will deliver a message from Kim Jong Il as has been reported.

Some 200 North Koreans are in Seoul for the joint celebrations. Earlier, delegates called for greater unity and reconciliation between the two Koreas.

On Liberation Day on Monday, 40 families separated by the border held virtual reunions over the first-ever video link between the countries. Some 10,000 families have met since 2000 in face-to-face reunions, and another is planned for later this month.