Report: Ted Turner visits North Korea

updated 9:10 a.m. ET Aug. 15, 2005

SEOUL, South Korea - CNN founder Ted Turner was greeted by senior North Korean government officials in the capital Pyongyang on Monday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

Turner met with Kim Yong Dae, vice president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, KCNA reported.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

KCNA said Kim Kye Gwan, vice foreign minister and the chief North Korean delegate to recent six-party talks in Beijing, was also there. The talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, are set to resume the week of Aug. 29. Other countries taking part in the talks are the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Turner arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Saturday. He was to leave Pyongyang later Monday after discussing the protection of plant and animal life inside the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas, officials in Seoul said.

Turner is also looking into the possibility of turning the DMZ into a peace park, CNN reported Saturday. He leaves for South Korea on Monday.

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