Swedish PM to visit NK in May

Swedish prime minister Goeran Persson will visit South Korea and North Korea May 2-4 in turn in his capacity as president of the European Union (EU), presidential spokesman Park Joon-Young announced Tuesday.

Persson will have a summit meeting with Kim Jong-Il, chairman of the North Korean National Defense Commission, to discuss economic cooperation, missile issues and human rights questions and to support efforts to ease tension on the Korean peninsula after the inter-Korean summit in June last year, sources said.

After his trip to North Korea, the Swedish prime minister will visit Seoul on May 3-4 to brief president Kim Dae-Jung on the result of his Pyongyang visit. In a summit meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Persson and Kim will discuss the situation on the Korean peninsula and ways of increasing cooperation between South Korea and the EU, the spokesman said.

Persson will be the first head of a Western country ever to visit North Korea. Meanwhile, the Swedish Foreign Ministry revealed that North Korea would allow the entry of 75 Western journalists, including one from Korea`s Dong-a Ilbo, in order to provide news coverage of Persson`s trip.

Yun Seung-Mo ysmo@donga.com