DATE=03/25/2002

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287940

TITLE=SOKOR/NOKOR DIALOGUE (S)

BYLINE=AMY BICKERS

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: North and South Korea announced Monday they will restart a dialogue on improving bilateral relations. As V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports from our Northeast Asia News Center, a South Korean envoy will go to North Korea next week to discuss easing tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.

TEXT: South Korean Presidential Spokeswoman Park Sun-sook said Monday special presidential envoy, Lim Dong-won, will go to Pyongang in the hope of restarting dialogue on the peninsula.

/// PARK ACT IN KOREAN, FADE ///

She says that the two Koreas have agreed that President Kim Dae-jung's special envoy will visit Pyongyang, based on Seoul's request. She adds that Seoul hopes that this will be an opportunity to open up relations.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency confirmed the visit Monday and said that the two sides will discuss the grave situation facing their nations.

In Washington, the State Department expressed support for the mission and said it welcomes continued dialogue between North and South Korea. In January President Bush said North Korea was part of an axis of evil along with Iran and Iraq, accusing Pyongyang of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The two Koreas were divided in 1945 and have never signed a peace treaty. In June of 2000, they held a summit but since then there have been few tangible improvements in bilateral ties. (SIGNED)

NEB/AB/MAR