North will send vice minister to Seoul

Inter-Korean ministerial talks will be held starting July 30, one day after the original schedule due to the North Korean situation, it was learned July 28.

The delegation is likely to fly into Seoul by the North Korean flag airline of Koryo -- a first -- following the North`s expressed intention to use both land and air routes for coming to the South Korean capital city.

Earlier, Pyongyang notified Seoul of the members of its delegation to attend the inter-Korean ministerial talks through the truce village of Panmunjon on July 27.

The delegation of five will be headed by Jon Kum-Jin, better known in the South as Jon Kum-Chol, a senior counselor for the North Korean cabinet. Other delegates will be Vice Culture Minister Kim Yong-Shin; Education Ministry director Yu Yong-Sun; Choi Song-Ik, section chief of the Secretariat of the Committee for Reunification of the Fatherland; and Ryang Tai-Hyon, a member of the Cabinet Secretariat.

However, it was pointed out that the chief North Korean delegate, Jon, is a vice minister-level official, one grade lower from a ministerial post, despite the fact that the chief South Korean delegate will be a minister, Unification Minister Park Jae-Kyu.