Seoul - North and South Korea said yesterday the North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, would visit his neighbour but no date has been set for the trip or for a hoped-for meeting of defence ministers.
A joint statement at the end of a four-day visit by a North Korean envoy said only that Mr Kim would visit his neighbour "in the near future". No North Korean leader has paid such a visit in the 52 years since each nation was founded.
The two sides said they were still in talks over the defence ministers' meeting, which Seoul had unsuccessfully advocated in ministerial meetings last month. A spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry said Mr Kim would probably make the visit early next year and that the titular North Korean leader, Mr Kim Yong-nam, would pay a visit first, perhaps some time this year.