Leaders of the Koreas to hold second-ever summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will host South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun from Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, South Korean presidential security adviser Baek Jong-chun told reporters.

At the first North-South summit in June 2000, Kim met then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang.

The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

But since 2000, they have launched a joint industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, bringing together South Korean know-how and cheap North Korean labor. More than 17,000 relatives split by the heavily fortified border between the countries have met in tearful reunions, and roads and rail lines have been reconnected across the frontier.

Kim Jong-il believed the timing was right for a second meeting due to the state of relations between the Koreas and the improved regional situation, South Korean National Intelligence Service head Kim Man-bok quoted his North Korean counterpart as saying earlier this month. The South's spy chief twice visited the North to arrange the summit.

Steps to bring the Koreas closer together have faltered due to the latest standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions that began in 2002.

But the summit comes in the wake of the first progress on disarmament since the crisis began, after North Korea shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor last month in exchange for oil aid. The United States and other regional powers are negotiating with the North on a timeline for the communist nation to declare all its nuclear programs and disable the facilities.

The summit announcement came as experts from North Korea met with other countries in the truce village of Panmunjom to discuss technical details of future aid for denuclearization. The North agreed at the talks Wednesday to move quickly on disarmament even if the aid takes more time, South Korea's deputy nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam said.