NEW DELHI: In a rare political engagement with North Korea, India has sent a three-member parliamentary delegation to Pyongyang . The two countries are in the 40th year of establishment of diplomatic ties between them.

The delegation, led by CPM MP Sitaram Yechury , will participate in the end of the `Fatherland Liberation War' celebrations on July 27 that marks the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. Others in the delegation are BJP MP Tarun Vijay and Congress PM Hamdullah Sayeed.

The delegation will also be accompanied by officials from the ministry of external affairs. TOI had earlier reported on July 2 that India will soon be sending a parliamentary delegation to Pyongyang even as New Delhi continues to voice concerns from international platforms about North Korea's alleged proliferation linkages with Pakistan.

"The significance of the visit is that at a time when there is tension between North and South Korea, India is trying to assert its independent role away from the US by sending a delegation to Pyongyang," said Yechury.

While India has been holding foreign office consultations with Pyongyang — the only significant contact with the pariah state in the absence of any political meetings — foreign minister Salman Khurshid had a rare meeting with his counterpart Pak Ui-Chun earlier this month in Brunei, on the sidelines of the 46th ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting. The last Indian minister to have visited North Korea was Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who went to Pyongyang in 1998 as junior I&B minister.

Khurshid said after the meeting that North Korea was trying to reach out to India even as he insisted that Pyongyang must take a position over the contentious nuclear issue which is "consistent with the global point of view". India has been particularly concerned about the nuclear test carried out by North Korea in February and its possible "clandestine proliferation linkages".

While it is still not clear if Pyongyang used enriched uranium for the test, the government here believes that any such confirmation will firmly establish North Korea's proliferation linkages with Pakistan.