Hasan to visit N. Korea in April

JAKARTA: Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda will visit North Korea next month to encourage peace talks with South Korea, he said on Tuesday.

Hassan told reporters he would travel to Pyongyang in the last week of April to meet senior North Korean officials to mainly discuss two-way issues.

But asked if he would call for peaceful dialogue between North and South Korea, Hassan said, "Naturally in this visit, matters that attract attention will be discussed."

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose father Sukarno was a friend of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung, visited the reclusive Communist country in 2002 and met its leader Kim Jong-il.

Despite reconciliation efforts in recent years, North and South Korea remain engaged in Cold War conflict and share the world's most militarized border. -Reuters