2 Korean leaders exchange messages

North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il delivered his verbal message to President Kim Dae-Jung, through Kim Yong-Sun, his special envoy, during the latter' courtesy call on the President at Chong Wa Dae on September 14.

And President Kim shared the view that the two Koreas should faithfully implement the June 15 Inter-Korean Summit Declaration and asked the visiting Kim to convey his gratitude for sending mushroom gifts on the occasion of the Chuseok holidays.

Chairman Kim: ¡°I would like to convey my best regards to the president. The agreements in the historic inter-Korean summit declaration have excellent contents and the accords have been implemented without fail. In particular, when you visited Pyongyang, you told me that you don't like empty formalities, and from this the joint declaration was generated. Now, the declaration should be implemented without fail, To be sure, the ink of signed declaration is drying and hardening. There are may good contents in the declaration, and therefore, the two accords must not be rendered futile, as in the past. Under all circumstances, the joint declaration should be carried out. I am fully determined to do so. The ¡®jindo¡¯ dog you gave me is growing well now. The exchange, as gifts, of jindo dog of the South and the ¡®poongsan¡¯ dog of the North may be significant, but more significant is its symbolic meaning to open the era for national unity and unification.¡±

President Kim: ¡°I extend thanks to Chairman Kim for giving me presents on the Chuseok holidays. The June 15 inter-Korean summit declaration must be faithfully implemented. As I mentioned while in Pyongang, man's life is not eternal. More important is what we did during our lives. It is highly meaningful that we are in a position to determine the future of the nation. If we do well, we will be able to hand over a proud nation and society to our posterity. And if we do wrong, we will bring about misfortune to them. Even though we are aspiring for national unification, we should not be impatient, but it is important that we must build a solid foundation for the unification. I will do my best to this end during my term, and my successor is expected to do the same. What we should do now is to carry out the agreed programs concretely and implement them one by one without faltering, although there could be various views on them. At the same time, we will have to receive the people's support for the prescribed tasks. It is better to do them step by step and on a gradual basis. Let's exert such efforts. Many thanks for your giving presents, the poongsan dogs.