South Korean to Visit North Next Week

A South Korean presidential envoy is scheduled to visit Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, next week for at least three days of meetings intended to restart the stalled dialogue between the estranged Koreas, the government here confirmed today.

The government said envoy Lim Dong Won would travel to the North on Wednesday. South and North Korea had said Monday that high-level negotiations would resume early next month.

Separately, South Korea’s official news agency reported that State Department envoy Charles Pritchard and North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Pak Gil Yon, had met twice in New York since mid-March to clear the way for talks.

Those meetings were the first formal contacts since President Bush characterized North Korea as part of an “axis of evil” in January.

In another effort to break out of its diplomatic isolation, Pyongyang will play host to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri for a three-day visit. Megawati, who arrives today, met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a child when their fathers were the leaders of their respective nations.