Koreas finalise summit

Yang Young-Shik [SK] and Kim Ryung-Sung [NK] signed the deal

North and South Korea have signed an agreement setting out the agenda for an historic summit between their leaders.

The talks, the first since the Korean Peninsula was divided in 1945, are scheduled to take place in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, next month.

Kim Dae-Jung: Taking it slowly

Officials, meeting at the border village of Panmunjom on Thursday, settled outstanding differences over the size of the press corps from the South and the use of satellite reporting.

The agreement to hold the summit comes at a time when the communist North is facing the aftermath of flooding and famine and seeking to end its long isolation.

The two Cold War rivals have been locked in a tense truce since the end of the three-year Korean war which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

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Both sides agreed to a broadly worded agenda that called for self-reliance, peace and national unity.

South Korea dropped its proposal for a specific agenda, listing matters such as economic aid to the impoverished North.

Famine has driven North Korea to seek international aid

They agreed that Seoul could send a 50-strong press corps along with President Kim Dae-Jung's 130-member party.

Seoul had originally proposed 80 journalists, but Pyongyang, which has often accused its neighbour of biased reporting, wanted the number halved.

The North also agreed the summit could be broadcast live in the South.

South Korean officials said there would be no display of national flags or symbols at the meeting in an effort to avoid ideological friction.

Reunions

President Kim Dae-Jung said on Wednesday he would not seek "too much at a time" from the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

High on Seoul's agenda are economic co-operation and reunions of separated family members.

North Korea is expected to raise the US military presence in the South.

Seoul believes Pyongyang, which relies on foreign aid to feed its people, was driven to agree to the summit for economic reasons.