SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea is sending a presidential envoy to North Korea next week to discuss improving relations, the rival nations said Monday, moving to resume dialogue and ease tensions in one of the world's most militarized regions.
The joint statement marks a resumption of the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula, which stalled last year after President Bush focused criticism toward the North's communist regime, drawing an angry response.
In January, relations dipped again when Bush said North Korea was part of "an axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq, accusing them of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Lim Dong-won, a special adviser to President Kim Dae-jung for diplomacy and national security, will visit North Korea in the first week of April, said Park Sun-sook, a chief presidential spokeswoman. Officials said the trip should produce a turning point in inter-Korean relations.
The Koreas share the world's most heavily armed border. About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Read photo caption below)
Hostility and suspicion marked the interchange between the two nations for decades, but relations warmed after a summit between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000. Kim Dae-jung won that year's Nobel Peace Prize for his effort to reconcile with the North.

PHOTO CAPTION:
South Korean Marine keep vigil from fox holes while landing crafts approach the beach in Pohang, southeast of Seoul, South Korea, during the joint U.S South Korea military exercise, operation "Foal Eagle" Saturday, March 23, 2002. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)