Minor party plans to send delegation to Pyongyang

Delegates from South Korea's Minjung Party and North Korea's Korean Social Democratic Party pose at the Rungrado restaurant in Shenyang, China, Friday. Seen are Minjung Party co-leader Jung Tae-heung, third from left, and Ri Kum-chol, fourth from left, vice head of the North's Social Democratic Party's central committee. / Courtesy of Minjung Party

By Park Ji-won

The minor leftist Minjung Party plans to send a delegation to Pyongyang soon as part of its inter-Korean parliamentary exchange program, the party said Tuesday.

The party with only one seat in the 293-member National Assembly held talks with the Korean Social Democratic Party of North Korea from Friday to Saturday in Shenyang, China, to discuss boosting exchanges in accord with the Panmunjeom Declaration signed at the latest inter-Korean summit.

The two parties had exchanged letters via the unification ministry.

At the meeting in Shenyang, the Minjung Party suggested a plan to send a delegation to Pyongyang in late August or early September. Along with that, the two parties agreed to hold a gathering at Mount Baekdu in North Korea and climb the mountain together.

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This was the first inter-Korean parliamentary meeting in 10 years.

Three delegates from each of the two parties met in Shenyang. They included Jung Tae-heung, co-leader of the Minjung Party and Ri Kum-chol, vice head of the North's Korean Social Democratic Party.

According to the Minjung Party, the North Korean party sent it a New Year's greeting on Jan. 1.

In return, the Minjung Party suggested party-level exchanges, May 21, including a visit to Pyongyang and joint climbing of Mount Baekdu. The Social Democratic Party later proposed a working-level meeting.