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NKorean team in South for May Day
NKorean team in South for May Day
Monday April 30, 2007
A group of North Korean workers and union leaders arrived here on Sunday for a joint May Day celebration in the first such event for South Korea, organisers said.
The 60-strong delegation arrived at a local airport near the southern industrial city of Changwon from Pyongyang, Woo Moon-Sook, spokeswoman for the Korean Confederation of Trade Union (KCTU), told AFP.
It was the first time since the 1950-1953 Korean War for North Korean workers to visit South Korea for a joint May 1 international labour festival, the spokeswoman said.
The two Koreas, following an inter-Korean peace summit in 2000, had joint May Day celebrations in 2001 and 2004 -- both in North Korea, she said.
The North's team, led by Won Hyong Guk, vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, will stay in Changwon, 390 kilometres south of Seoul, until Wednesday.
The group will visit South Korean union offices and a cemetery for pro-democracy activists before taking part in May Day celebrations which feature a joint rally, live entertainment and soccer matches.
"I believe we can say ... the main purpose of these events is to have labourers from North and South Korea join hands so we can reunify our nation by ourselves," Won was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying upon arrival.
The KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, South Korea's biggest umbrella union, organised the May Day celebration.
AFP
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