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Korea: Richest man of South distributes riches in North |
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June 20, 2000
SEOUL, (AP) - South Korea's richest man plans to visit North Korea again next week with 500 cattle to be given to the impoverished communist country as a gift, aides said.
The visit by Chung Ju-yung, founder of the Hyundai group, is meant to celebrate the successful summit between the leaders of the two Koreas last week, they said.
The South Korean government is expected approve Chung's visit, tentatively planned for June 28.
In 1998, Chung drove 1001 cattle across the border into North Korea. In return, he won a few business deals, including a dlrs 942 million sightseeing cruise tour of a scenic mountain on the North's east coast.
A conciliatory mood is building after South Korean President Kim Dae-jung met his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Il, in the first summit between the two countries.
The leaders signed a deal renouncing hostilities and pledging to promote economic and other exchanges and unite hundreds of thousands of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Under the deal, the Koreas are expected to exchange 100 people in mid-August for temporary family reunions. To discuss the issue, Red Cross officials of the two sides are expected to meet before next week.
One of the two dozen South Korean businessmen who accompanied their president to the summit was a son of the Hyundai founder. During a meeting with the businessmen, the North Korean leader told the son to visit him later with his father. Hyundai is pushing to build a multimillion dollar industrial park in North Korea where it plans to relocate hundreds of footwear and other labor-intensive small South Korean companies.
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