A 340-member South Korean delegation, led by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Tuesday arrived in Pyongyang for a four-day inter-Korean joint event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the historic Pyongyang Summit.

Chung Dong-young and 39 South Korean government officials arrived at the Sun-an airport in a suburb of Pyongyang on Tuesday evening, while the other 300 members of the delegation arrived in Pyongyang by another chartered flight in the morning, an official of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) told Xinhua.

After arriving in Pyongyang, the South Korean delegation joinedthe "Grand March for National Reunification" on Pyongyang's streets, marching with DPRK citizens and overseas Koreans, from the Chollima bronze statue to Kim Il-sung Stadium to attend the opening ceremony for the festival.

Chung Dong-young will hold talks with his counterparts on Wednesday, and meet with Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, one of the most important leaders in the DPRK, on Thursday.

Officials of the DPRK and South Korea in May reached an agreement to hold joint ceremonies in Pyongyang to commemorate thefirst ever inter-Korean summit, which took place in mid-June 2000 and was regarded as a milestone for the reconciliation process on the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean government earlier said it expected the joint festival would help to normalize inter-Korean relations and resolve the nuclear deadlock.

The South Korean delegation is scheduled to leave Pyongyang on Friday.

Source: Xinhua