Kim Yang-gon, 69, director of the United Front Department of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a close aide to President Kim Jong-il, was the only senior official to accompany the North Korean leader during his summit with President Roh Moo-hyun in early October.
At the October 2-4 summit, the leaders of the two Koreas signed a historic joint declaration pledging a commitment to peace talks and economic cooperation projects. The declaration was followed up when the two countries' premiers met in Seoul for talks in mid-November the first time since 1992.
According to Yonhap, a five-member delegation, headed by Kim Yang-gon, "will meet with a wide range of South Korean high-level officials and those involved in economic cooperation to discuss implementing the summit declaration."
However, the rare visit of a senior Pyongyang official raised suspicions in South Korean political circles that President Roh Moo-hyun and its liberal supporters were attempting to use inter-Korean peace agenda as a potential tool to undermine the conservative camp ahead of the December presidential election.