DPRK delegates visit S.Korean National Cemetery

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) delegates to the joint celebration of the 60th anniversary of liberation of the Korean Peninsula from the Japanese colonial rule visited South Korean National Cemetery here Sunday afternoon.

A group of 30 DPRK officials and civilian representatives paid brief tribute at the National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, southern Seoul, where the remains of about 54,000 patriots, mostly soldiers killed during the Korean War (1950-1953), are buried, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

The 30 DPRK delegates include Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Central Committee of the DPRK's Workers' Party, and Lim Dong Ok, vice-chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

This is the first time for DPRK officials to visit the South Korean National Cemetery.

After walking slowly through the main gate of the cemetery, the delegates stood in silent prayer for a few seconds in front of a 31-meter iconic tower honoring those who sacrificed their lives for South Korea, said Yonhap.

"It was a difficult decision to pay homage there," Lim Dong Ok was quoted by Yonhap as saying. "We thought that we should transcend everything in the era of reconciliation brought on by the June 15 inter-Korean summit."

South Korean former President Kim Dae-jung and the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il held first inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2002.

Some 200 delegates from the DPRK for a four-day inter-Korean festival to mark the 60th anniversary of Korean Peninsula's independence from 36 years of Japanese colonial rule.

Source: Xinhua