Lee mulling possible meeting with N. Korean delegates: Seoul official

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead paras; UPDATES with reports of possible message from
North Korean leader, additional information)
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak was considering a meeting
Saturday with North Korean delegates here on a trip to pay respects to late
former President Kim Dae-jung, an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa
Dae said, amid speculation that North Koreans may be carrying a personal message
from their leader Kim Jong-il.

President Lee was holding a luncheon meeting with his Unification Minister Hyun
In-taek to be debriefed on the results of Hyun's 90-minute meeting with his North
Korean counterpart Kim Yang-gon, who is in charge of Pyongyang's policy on Seoul.
The North's delegates are seeking to meet the South Korean president, according
to Cheong Wa Dae officials.
"There would have been no reason for Minister Hyun to have lunch with the
president unless the North Koreans asked to meet with President Lee," the
official told Yonhap News Agency, asking not to be identified apparently due to
the sensitivity of the issue.
There were reports that the North Koreans were carrying a message from the North
Korean leader to President Lee, but officials here said it was "very unlikely" to
be true.
The six-member North Korean delegation, headed by Kim Ki-nam, a Workers' Party
secretary close to the North Korean leader, arrived here Friday to pay respects
to the late Kim Dae-jung, who died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia.
The North Koreans were the first such officials to visit South Korea since
inter-Korean relations soured following the conservative South Korean president's
inauguration early last year.
The North Koreans were set to return to the North later Saturday, but the
unification minister earlier said their departure could be delayed if necessary.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)