KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: South Korea is waiting for the North Korean leader to agree on a date for a trip to Seoul. But a new development in South Korean politics may prove a setback for North-South relations. Sohn Jie-ae reports.</s>SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lim Dong-won has gone from Seoul's favorite son to persona non grata in less than a year. South Korea's national assembly approved a no-confidence motion against the unification minister, a move seen as a blow to president Kim Dae-jung's North Korean policies. President Kim is expected to respect the 148-119 vote and sack Lim. The move against Lim Dong-won followed his ministry's approval of a controversial visit last month to Pyongyang, by more than 300 civilian representatives. Critics say the visit was used by the North for propaganda purposes. Lim is accredited with negotiating last year's summit between South and North Korea, and is considered a key architect of President Kim's sunshine policy towards the North. On Sunday, North Korea called for the resumption of stalled dialogue between the two Koreas. Opposition members in the South criticized Pyongyang's move as insincere and an attempt to meddle in the South's domestic politics. But as the Chinese President Jiang Zemin starts a visit to North Korea Monday, some here in the South hope this could jump start the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula. Sohn Jie-ae, CNN, Seoul.
Sack of South Korean Unification Minister Expected