CRI听力： S.Korean President-elect Says He Will Meet Kim Jong Il at "Any Time"

South Korea's president-elect says he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at "any time" to improve relations.

He says he hopes the summit could take place in South Korea because the two previous summits between the Koreas in 2000 and 2007 were held in the North Korean capital.

"If a summit between the leaders of South and North Korea will be a help in persuading the North to give up its nuclear programs and improve South-North Korean relations, I can meet him any time."

Lee will be inaugurated in late February.

Leaders of the two Koreas met for their first-ever summit in 2000.

Outgoing president Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Pyongyang in October for a second summit, to discuss a package of projects designed to strengthen ties between the two Koreas such as the establishment of a new joint economic zone and a shipbuilding factory.

Lee also stressed the need to bolster ties with the United States, saying it will help develop inter-Korean relations.

"Strengthened ties between South Korea and the US will help make South-North relations better. And if South Korea-US relations improve, North Korea-US relations will get better".

North Korea missed a year-end deadline to provide a declaration of all its nuclear programs.

The North said it had already provided the US with the declaration, but Washington says Pyongyang has not yet given a complete accounting.