Paris, August 10 {No.2000-70} - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will travel to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (August 19 - 22), China (August 22 - 25) and the Republic of Korea (August 25 - 26) in his first official visit to the three countries.

Mr Matsuura has been invited to North Korea to attend the opening ceremony, on August 20, of a photographic exhibition on the Koguryo Mural Tomb, a major cultural site the country is preparing to submit for inclusion on the World Heritage List which features no North Korean sites to date.

Senior officials Mr Matsuura will meet during his stay in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea include: Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly; Foreign Affairs Minister Paek Nam-sun; Education Minister Byon Yong-rip; and Culture Minister Kang Nung-su.

In Beijing, Mr Matsuura will visit the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, as well as the Founder Group at the Life Science Academy of the Peking University and the Human Genome Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He will meet Education Minister Chen Zhili; Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng; and Science and Technology Minister Zhu Lilan. A press conference with the Director-General is scheduled for August 24, in the late afternoon.

In the morning of August 26, in South Korea, Mr Matsuura will attend the opening ceremony of the Asia Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding - created by the Republic of Korea with the support of UNESCO. The Director-General will meet President Kim Dae-jung; Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Lee Joung-binn; and Education Minister Song-ja.

This is the first official visit to these countries of Mr Matsuura, who became Director-General of UNESCO in November 1999 and is the first Asian to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.