SEOUL, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- North Korean delegates made a first-ever visit to South Korea's Parliament Tuesday among activities to mark the 60th year since Korea's liberation from Japan.
The delegates, headed by Kim Ki Nam, a central committee secretary of the ruling Workers Party and a confidant of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, became their country's first representatives to visit South Korea's National Assembly.
Kim later visited former President Kim Dae-jung in the hospital where he is recovering from pneumonia, to deliver a goodwill message from Kim Jong Il, Channel NewsAsia reported. The two leaders met during a historic summit in Pyongyang in 2000.
Pyongyang sent 17 officials and 165 civilians, including its football team, to Seoul to attend a four-day festival to celebrate the end of Japanese occupation. The festival began Sunday.
The group paid a visit Sunday to a South Korean cemetery that honors South Koreans who died fighting against the North in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The North Korean delegation's visit was an unprecedented effort at reconciliation with the South, which is increasingly engaging in diplomatic, economic and trade activities with its former enemy.
