President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday met North Korean Ambassador to Kuwait Ho Jong. Roh and Kuwaiti Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed were welcoming guests prior to a state dinner at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait. When his turn came in the reception lineup, Ho introduced himself, saying, "I am the ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." Roh warmly shook hands with the envoy. "Please deliver my message¡± to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Roh reportedly told him. ¡°I am serious." Ho, clasping Roh¡¯s hand in both of his, replied, "Thank you. I hope (your Kuwait visit) will be productive." That ended their brief encounter.
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President Roh Moo-hyun shakes hands with North Korean Ambassador to Kuwait Ho Jong at the dinner co-hosted by the Kuwaiti emir at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait City on Monday.
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Presidential spokesman Yoon Seung-yong later said Roh asked Ho to deliver ¡°the message to North Korean leaders, including Chairman Kim Jong-il, that we are serious about inter-Korean relations and North Korea policy." As ambassador to the UN in 1993, Ho attended high-level talks between North Korea and the U.S. As a roving ambassador in 2003, he attended a session of the annual Asean Regional Forum. He is one of North Korea's most experienced diplomats. Cheong Wa Dae said it had been told that Ho would be at the dinner by the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry an hour before it started.
The Kuwaiti government customarily invites all foreign ambassadors there to state dinners. The encounter came one day after Roh told Korean expatriates in Saudi Arabia, "We need to be both pro-North Korea and pro-U.S."
At a state dinner during his visit to Mexico in September 2005, Roh also encountered North Korea¡¯s ambassador to the country. Meanwhile, Roh wound up his two-day visit to Kuwait and arrived in Qatar, the next leg of tour, on Monday. On Tuesday night, Roh held a summit with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. They agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of energy and information technology.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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