Asian regional summit meeting to be held Thursday

Leaders of the 10 Asian nations attending the Third ASEM summit will hold a meeting at the ASEM convention center on Thursday, one day before the opening of the ASEM itself. Discussions will be held on enhancing exchanges within the Asian region and the situation on the Korean peninsula after the historic June 15th inter-Korean summit. President Kim, who will head the ASEM meeting, China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, Japan's Yoshiro Mori and the leaders of the member nations of ASEAN will participate in the session.

In the evening, President Kim will hold a dinner with the leaders of the 26 ASEM nations and other relevant officials in attendance. Meetings with Denmark Prime Minister Paul Rasmussen, Finland president Tarja Halonen and English Prime Minister Tony Blair will be held the same day.

Separate from the agenda of the leaders of the 26 ASEM nations, a SOM and a coordination meeting will be held in relation to the three declarations to be adopted at the ASEM, including the Seoul Declaration on peace on the Korean peninsula and the 2000 AECF ASEM chairman statement. Indonesian leader Wahid, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, Belgian leader Michel, Philippine foreign minister Domingo Saijon and Vietnam Vice Prime Minister Wenman Kom arrived in Korea on Wednesday.