The maverick CNN founder Ted Turner is pushing for private meetings with the leaders of North and South Korea. Turner visited both Koreas last year. Now he is reportedly seeking meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il. First visiting North Korea, Turner may carry a message when he subsequently travels south.

Last year, Tuner visited with Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, on a charted plane to both Koreas. At the time, Turner gave US$150,000 to North Korea to aid in the development of farming technology.

The Korean Embassy in the U.S. said, “We understand that Turner is pushing ahead plans to meet President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il to ask for the dispatch of a pan-Korean delegation to a peace park project in South Africa.”

The former chairman of CNN established the Turner Foundation to support environmental preservation in 1990 and launched a campaign to protect plants and animals. Since 1997, he has been engaged in the global denuclearization movement. Turner is a member of Responsible Wealth, a group that speaks up for preserving the estate tax, advocates fair taxes, proposes minimum wage hikes and pushes for decreases in the salaries of CEOs.

(englishnews@chosun.com )