N. Korean officials visit lake park, residential town near Seoul

GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- A five-member North Korean delegation that arrived in South Korea on Wednesday to attend an international peace forum toured a residential town and a lake park on the northern outskirts of Seoul on Friday.

The North's delegates, led by Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, looked around Ilsan New Town and Ilsan Lake Park, in Goyang, north of Seoul, aboard a bus before attending the international forum on Asia-Pacific peace and prosperity set to open in the city in the afternoon.

The North Korean officials went around the lake park for about 40 minutes by bus after leaving the MVL Hotel Goyang, where they are staying, at around 10 a.m.

A bus carrying North Korean officials stops on a bridge overlooking Ilsan Lake Park in Goyang, north of Seoul, on Nov. 16, 2018. (Yonhap)

Their bus stopped on a bridge overlooking the lake and a parking lot for five minutes but the North's officials didn't disembark. They are to participate in the peace forum Friday afternoon after a lunch at the Goyang hotel.

Lee Jae-myung, governor of Gyeonggi Province, to which Goyang belongs, and Lee Hae-chan, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party, are scheduled to give congratulatory addresses at the forum.

On Thursday, the North Korean officials visited the Second Techno Valley in Pangyo, a hub of technology companies and startups, and the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services in Hwaseong, 60 kilometers south of Seoul.

The North Koreans also had lunch with Gov. Lee and dinner with Chairman Lee on the day. (Yonhap)