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S Korean president to discuss inter-Korea summit with opposition leader |
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April 24, 2000 SEOUL, APR 23 (AP) - President Kim Dae-jung will meet main opposition party leader Lee Hoi-chang Monday to seek cooperation in state affairs including a historic inter-Korea summit.
Kim proposed the meeting shortly after the April 13 parliamentary elections, in which Kim's ruling Millennium Democratic Party won 115 seats and Lee's Grand National Party won 133 seats.
Analysts have warned that the ruling party's failure to grab a majority in the 273-member parliament, which will be formed on June 1, will weaken its ability to advance state policies.
Ruling and main opposition parties have clashed over many issues in the past and refused to compromise, raising doubts about how successful the talks will be.
An agreement on a summit with North Korea was announced shortly before the elections and Lee's party accused the Kim government of timing the announcement to earn more votes.
Kim said that when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in June the two will discuss economic cooperation and reunion of separated family members in the two Koreas.
Kim is also seeking to renew a coalition partnership with former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil's minor conservative party, the United Liberal Democrats, which won 17 seats in the elections.
Kim Jong-pil ended his coalition with the president two months before the election.
The Korean peninsula was divided into two Koreas in 1945. The two Koreas fought the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Millions of Koreans remain separated from their relatives because of the national division.
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