Culture-Tourism min. to visit P`yang Saturday

Culture-Tourism Minister Kim Han-Gil will begin a four-day visit to North Korea Saturday at the invitation of Kim Yong-Sun, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. In a press conference Wednesday, Minister Kim said he would hold discussions with North Korean officials on ways of promoting inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation in the areas of culture, tourism and sports.

During his Pyongyang visit, Minister Kim plans to hold talks with Kim Yong-Sun and other North Korean officials in hopes of signing agreements in these areas in the near future. Their talks also will address the prospect of jointly staging games in the 2002 World Cup soccer championships.

With regard to cultural exchanges, Kim plans to propose reciprocal visits by those in the art and culture fields, joint sponsorships of cultural and artistic performances, and joint surveys of cultural relics and natural monuments, including the Kungye Castle ruins and other structures in the military demilitarized zone.

As for the sports exchange programs, the minister is expected to discuss the World Cup, exchange visits of Taekwondo martial arts teams, the holding of Seoul-Pyongyang soccer tournaments, and joint participation in the table tennis championships slated for Apr. 23 in Osaka, Japan.

In the tourism sector, the two Koreas are likely to exchange views on the question of propping up the debt-ridden Mt. Kumgang tourist project, development of one-day tours between Seoul and Kaesong in the North, and the promotion of other joint tourism projects linking major cities, sightseeing spots and mountain resort areas in the two Koreas.

[Yonhap]