South Korea's major party politicians and business leaders Tuesday hailed President Roh Moo-hyun's visit to Pyongyang for the second inter-Korean summit.
The pro-government United New Democratic Party spokesman Lee Nak-yeon said that his party looks forward to substantial and practical progress on peace and economic development from the summit.
The opposition Grand National Party said in a statement that it urged Roh to focus on the peace on the Korean Peninsula as well the economic reform and opening-up of Pyongyang.
The Democratic Party said it hopes the inter-Korean summit can be a turning point for the establishment of a peace mechanism on the peninsula and urged Pyongyang to fully denuclearize in the spirit of 1992 declaration of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Roh's delegation includes 18 business leaders, who are expected to launch talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on economic cooperation.
Many South Korean business leaders said that they are interested in cooperating with the north.
Before leaving for Pyongyang, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said that although his company has no trade with the DPRK, he would study their possible cooperation from a long term point of view.
LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo said he hopes that the summit will be a turning point in the establishment of a peaceful regime on the peninsula and for inter-Korean economic cooperation.
South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) hit a record high on Tuesday on the back of the second inter-Korean summit.
The KOSPI index closed up by 51.42 points, or 2.62 percent, to 2, 014.09, exceeding the 2,000-point mark in about two months.
"Investor sentiment was underpinned by overnight gains in U.S. markets and the inter-Korean summit," Lee Kyoung-su, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co, was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency as saying.
The inter-Korean summit would help dispel the so-called "Korea Discount" in the mid- and long-term, which refers to the undervaluation of South Korean stocks, Lee said.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked across the inter-Korean border earlier in the day to hold a summit with Kim Jong Il, the DPRK's top leader, in Pyongyang. Roh is to return to Seoul on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua
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