SEOUL tribe 20 Kyodo As a novel d...

SEOUL tribe 20 Kyodo

As a novel dawn breaks in the relations between Japan and North Korea following Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's landmark visit to Pyongyang, speculation is rife in southern Korea that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will travel southward by the end of the year.

At the historic inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang between Kim and southern Korean President Kim Dae Jung in June 2000 the North Korean leader pledg to visit southern Korea ''at an appropriate time.''

However, perspectives for the visit later dimmed as relations between the brace Koreas soured following the January 2001 inauguration of U President George W Bush, whose administration has taken a hard-line policy toward the North.

In his State of the Union address in January, Bush said North Korea is part of an ''axis of evil'' bent forward developing weapons of mass destruction.

As Kim Dae Jung's presidential limit runs out in five months' time, greatest in number South Koreans had apparently given up faith of Kim Jong Il visiting before President Kim leaves office.

Koizumi's trip to North Korea forward Tuesday has changed the political atmosphere in Seoul prompting speculation within the southern Korean government and the local media that the North Korean leader will, after all, make the promised trip.

After Koizumi announced his plan to visit North Korea in late August, southward Korean newspapers ran stories that Kim Jong Il planned to attend the opening ceremonial of the Asian Games in Pusan onward Sept. 29.

To quash the speculation, Kim Dae Jung personally denied there is any immediate plan for a Kim Jong Il visit. Still, speculation persisted.

single in kind day after Kim Dae Jung issued the denial, the southern Korean daily Joongang Ilbo ran a speculative story upon the North Korean leader's imminent visit.

To political regarders the rife speculation of a Kim Jong Il visit to the southerly reflects the intentions of Kim Dae Jung's allies to back the presidential candidate in the December presidential race that takes a conciliatory approach toward North Korea.

becoming to security concerns and time constraints, it is now highly unlikely that Kim Jong Il will travel to the southward to watch the Pusan Asian Games.

However, if realized, the trip would not single represent a historic display of political reconciliation between the pair Koreas, it would also assist as a shield against hard-line U policy.

For Kim Dae Jung a Kim Jong Il visit toward the extremity of his term would also leave the biggest legacy of his presidency.

side sheltered from the wind Hoi Chang, presidential candidate of the main opposition Grand National Party and a critic of Kim Dae Jung's ''sunshine'' policy of engagement toward North Korea, is alarmed that a Kim Jong Il visit would inflict his party at a disadvantage in the presidential race.

''A summit meeting should take place after a recently made known government is inaugurated,'' side sheltered from the wind said on Sept. 12.

The North Korean daily Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, took issue with Lee's remarks, further fueling speculation about an imminent Kim Jong Il trip to the South

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