Top Chinese officials due in Seoul next month

SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- A delegation of senior Chinese officials from the communist party will visit South Korea early next month as part of their regional tour, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.

Li Changchun, fifth in the hierarchy of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will
lead the delegation as the highest-level Chinese official to visit South Korea so
far this year. He oversees propaganda and cultural affairs.
The delegation will include Wang Jiarui, head of the CPC's international
department, and several other minister-level officials, the source said. Wang met
with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in January, the first foreign
guest to have seen by Kim since his reported stroke last summer.
"The Chinese delegates are scheduled to arrive on Jeju Island from Japan on a
special plane on April 4," the source said.
During their four-day stay in South Korea, the delegates are also scheduled to
meet President Lee Myung-bak, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, and other officials
in Seoul, and will tour factories in the southern industrial city of Ulsan.
Their visit falls in the range of dates during which North Korea has said it will
send a communications satellite into orbit, between April 4-8.
The source, however, would not link the two events. The trip is purely an effort
on the part of both Seoul and Beijing to promote bilateral ties, the source said.

The Chinese delegation is also scheduled to travel to Australia and Myanmar.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, regarded as one of the strongest candidates to
become the country's next leader, plans to visit Seoul in the latter half of this
year, according to the source.