The two Koreas, divided in 1945, have not officially signed a peace treaty since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and are still technically at war, which is seriously hampering the development of bilateral economic cooperation.
"The Korean Peninsula would emerge as the economic hub of Northeast Asia if the armistice is converted into a permanent peace treaty and inter-Korean economic cooperation is further strengthened," the agency quoted Roh Moo-hyun as saying.
Speaking on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the South Korean president said he would strive to attain practical progress in inter-Korean relations during his summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, scheduled for August 28-30.
Roh said that one of the goals of the upcoming summit, aside from the talks on Korean peninsula's denuclearization, would be discussing the formation of a unified economic zone in the region.
The two Koreas earlier agreed that a group of 202 South Korean delegates, including 150 officials and 50 journalists, will attend the meeting, a slightly larger delegation than the 180-member group of seven years ago, when then President Kim Dae-jung visited Pyongyang for the first-ever summit with the reclusive North Korean leader.
The new summit comes after North Korea shut down its only operating nuclear reactor, a source of weapons-grade plutonium, last month in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives under a February six-nation deal with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
