President Feels Peace Is Close

President Kim Dae-jung stressed again Friday the imminency of ending the Cold War as the government looks to establish a Korean peace system this year.

"The diplomatic fruit to end the Cold War system should materialize this year. The possibility is great," Mr. Kim said while being briefed by Lee Joung-binn, minister of foreign affairs and trade.

Saying that policy coordination with North Korea "will top the March summit meeting in Washington with President Bush," Mr. Kim ordered the foreign minister to redouble efforts at cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.

"The success of the June 15 inter-Korean summit and the follow-up inter-Korean exchanges of the past year owes a lot to Seoul's bilateral cooperation with Tokyo and Washington," the president said. "Thus, policy coordination with Tokyo and Washington should be strengthened."

The president spoke a day after the nation's unification minister, Park Jae-kyu, set as his No. 1 administrative task of the year establishing a permanent peace between the two Koreas. They have been under a truce system that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Seoul is preparing for a "spring" visit by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, with Lim Dong-won, director general of the National Intelligence Service, still in Washington, reportedly to fine-tune policy toward North Korea. The foreign minister, who completed his visit to Washington last week was questioned in the National Assembly about why the visit by the spy agency chief immediately followed his. (Details, Page 2)

He said that after the Kim-Bush meeting "a vice-ministerial meeting among South Korea, Japan and United States will take place." Mr. Lee added that the government will aid North Korea's diplomatic efforts to gain a wider foothold in the international community, including entry into the Asia Development Bank.

by Lee Chul-hee