RI, NORTH KOREAN PARLIAMENTS TO STEP UP COMMUNICATION

Beijing, May 23 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's and North Korea's parliaments have agreed to step up communication and cooperation which have been well-nurtured so far, Indonesia's top legislator said.

"We have agreed to maintain and to step up our inter-parliamentary cooperation and communication which have been carefully nurtured so far," visiting Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono said here on Saturday.

Laksono made the statement during a stopover in Beijing on his way back from North Korea where he had met a number of Pyongyang top officials, including his North Korean counterpart Choe Thae Bok.

In his working visit to North Korea, Laksono said, the two countries' parliaments had agreed to make reciprocal visits in an effort to improve bilateral cooperation and communication.

Laksono said his visit in North Korea was part of Indonesia's concern for and attention to the country because it had been under the international spotlight since it launched a satellite recently.

"We hope Indonesia and North Korea will maintain and step up their good relations and cooperations," Laksono said, adding that the cooperation was marked by the visits of a number of Indonesian top officials to North Korea in the recent past.

He said mutual visits by officials of the two countries would be intensified in the future.***