By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun will travel to Pyongyang through a reconnected cross-border road later this month for a second inter-Korean summit, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.
Roh will cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that divided the Korean Peninsula, through the Gyeongui road, a four-lane highway alongside the Gyeongui rail line to the North, it said.
The Gyeongui road links Seoul to the North Korean border city of Sinuiju bordering China.
The Seoul government had wanted Roh to travel to Pyongyang using cross-border railways. But the North was reluctant to accept the request.
North Korea watchers said military security guarantees for the trip on inter-Korean railways might be a setback.
Nevertheless, the overland trip crossing the world's most heavily fortified border is likely to highlight the symbolism of the second summit between the leaders of South and North Korea.
The Korean War ended with an armistice, signed by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, North Korea and China, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
In 2000, former President Kim Dae-jung flew to Pyongyang for a landmark first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The agreement was made during the first working-level meeting between South and North Korean representatives in the North Korean border city of Gaeseong.
The two sides set ``peace on the Korean Peninsula, national co-prosperity, reunification'' as the major agenda on the summit table, ministry officials said.
They also set the number of South Korean delegates for the summit at 202, larger than the 182-member group for the first summit in 2000.
The two Koreas have restored roads and rail links across the border since the first summit seven years ago, which set the stage for warming cross-border ties through joint business projects and social exchanges.
Cross-border roads _ the western Gyeongui and eastern Donghae roads _ were reopened in 2003 as part of inter-Korean reconciliation efforts following the 2000 summit.
On May 17, two trains crossed the border on both the western and eastern parts of the peninsula for the first time since the Korean War in a one-time test.
The officials also discussed issues related to the summit talks such as itinerary, protocols, communications, media coverage and security measures, they said, adding the two sides will hold additional working-level talks
Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-se represents the South's three-member team at the talks, while the North's delegation is headed by Choi Seung-chul, deputy chief of North Korea's Asia Pacific Peace Committee.