[Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL -- A South Korean Buddhist monk will become the first civil personnel to mark the start of inter-Korean personnel exchanges that would resume under a historic summit in April.
The Ministry of Unification said Thursday that it would allow a monk, who uses his Buddhist name Cheondam, to visit North Korea next month. The green light came amid a rapidly evolving mood of inter-Korean reconciliation after two historical inter-Korean summits which took place on April 27 and May 26.
Cheondam is a senior official of the World Peace Foundation, a Seoul-based civic group. The ministry said that at the invitation of North Korean Buddhists, he would visit Pyongyang via China for a five-day trip from June 2 to discuss the restoration of a temple in Mount Kumgang, a famous tourist destination just north of the border.
Kumgang used to have a number of old temples in its mountain chains but many of them burned down to the ground during the 1950-53 Korean War.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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