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President Roh Moo-hyun will visit Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, presidential office Cheong Wa Dae(Blue House) announced in a statement Wednesday.

"The two Koreas have agreed to hold a summit in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30. For the summit, Roh will remain in the North Korean capital for three days," said the statement.

"The second inter-Korean summit is expected to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem," it said.

The statement noted that Kim Man-bok, chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), visited North Korea twice earlier this month to fine-tune details of the summit and that the agreement was finalized on Aug. 5.

The South Korean government will soon establish panels to prepare the agenda of the Roh-Kim talks, he added.

The Koreas held their first-ever summit in June 2000 between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim, leading to rapprochement and reconciliation. But North and South Korea are still technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

In this regard, the statement, read by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, the NIS chief and Baek Jong-chun, chief presidential secretary for foreign and security policy in a joint news conference, said the two Koreas' leaders will hold serious discussions on establishing a permanent peace regime on the peninsula.

"The two leaders' discussions on a Korean Peninsula peace treaty will help widen bilateral military trust and further upgrade mutual economic cooperation and exchanges," said the statement.

Regarding inter-Korean contacts leading to the summit agreement, it revealed that the North sent an invitation on July 29 to the South, asking NIS chief Kim to secretly visit Pyongyang on Aug. 2-3. "Since then, the NIS chief again traveled to the North on Aug. 4-5 and signed the summit agreement at the end of his second visit.

In the first contact, the North said its leader Kim has long wished to meet with Roh and the most opportune timing has finally come."

In a separate question-and-answer session with the media, Unification Minister Lee said the agenda of the upcoming summit will be determined through further two-way contacts.

"Establishment of a Korean Peninsula peace regime would be discussed, but it is too early to comment on details of the issue," said the minister. SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Yonhap News)