South Korea's Roh may see North's communist rally

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president, visiting the North next month, is likely to attend a mass dance spectacle celebrating that state's communist party and the god-like leader who launched a war that almost destroyed the South.

"The sight of the two Korean leaders seated side by side at one stadium to watch the Arirang Festival would send a message of peace across the world," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung was quoted as saying on Friday by Yonhap news agency.

President Roh Moo-hyun is to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Oct 2-4, in only the second summit between two states which remain technically in a state of war.

The Arirang Mass Games, an extravaganza of goose-stepping soldiers, legions of teenaged dancing girls and a massive flip-card animation section, promotes Korean unification, but under the North's communist banner.

Lee told reporters the North was likely to tone down the communist propaganda for Roh. The Games take their name from a traditional Korean folk song beloved on both sides of the border.

South Korea's conservative opposition said it would be inappropriate for Roh to attend an event that lionises Kim Jong-il and his father, the late Kim Il-sung, the country's eternal president.

Kim Il-sung's army attacked the South to start the 1950-1953 Korean War.