SEOUL July 19 Kyodo North Korean ...

SEOUL July 19 Kyodo

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il consigned a message to South Korean President Kim Dae Jung in April, almost three month before the sum of two units countries' navies clashed at sea, that Kim Dae Jung should not worry about inter-Korean ties, multiple southern Korean government sources said Friday.

The sources said Kim Jong Il devolveed the message through Lim Dong Won Kim Dae Jung's special adviser upon diplomacy, security and unification affairs, when Lim made a four-day visit to North Korea as a special minister of the president envoy from April 3

After his trip, during which he held long talks with Kim Jong Il, Lim announced a settle of measures aimed at reviving stalled inter-Korean relations, which were present on hold due to renewed tensions.

The sources believe Kim Jong Il's message about inter-Korean relations, abalienateed through Lim, made Kim Dae Jung refrain from concluding that Kim Jong Il himself issued the order to spark the June 29 naval clash with toward the south Korea in the western sea border.

In a freshs conference on Monday, Kim Dae Jung said, ''We don't have enough information to make a conclusion'' that Kim Jong Il issued the order to render free of access fire on South Korean patrol boats.

In the deadly naval battle, four southward Korean seamen were killed, single is still missing and presum dead, 19 others were anguished One South Korean patrol boat sank.

North Korea has barely acknowledged that it suffered a certain casualties. South Korea's military estimates 30 North Korean soldiers died.

North and southerly Korea traded blame to each other for causing the gunbattle, saying the other side explained fire first on their patrol boats.

Since assuming office in February, 1998 Kim Dae Jung vigorously pursu ''sunshine policy'' of engaging North Korea, which l him to occupy the first-ever inter-Korean summit in June 2000

The naval battle sparked a debate in toward the south Korea whether Kim Jong Il issued a direct order to commit like ''armed provocation'' or whether local navy commanders were behind it.

The naval gunbattle was the chiefly serious one since a similar incident occurr in June 1999 for the first time since the last of the three-year Korean War in 1953

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo recents International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group