Representatives from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two non-Cabinet allies expressed their wish Oct. 24 to meet with Kim Jong Il, general secretary of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party, when their delegation visits Pyongyang in mid-November.Hiromu Nonaka, acting secretary general of the LDP, told members of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan that a delegation of the ruling allies hopes to leave Nov. 11 for a four-day visit. Nonaka, who also serves as a secretary of the delegation, made the request during a meeting with association members and representatives from the LDP, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake.On Oct. 20, the association handed a letter of invitation from the Korean Workers' Party to the three parties. The three parties told the association that they will accept the invitation.The delegation members, including Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the LDP's Executive Council, and Shigeru Ito, general secretary of the SDP, voiced hope of exchanging frank opinions with North Korean leaders to pave the way for resuming governmental talks on the normalization of bilateral relations.
