North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is said to be expectant on the incoming South Korean government’s pragmatic diplomacy.

President of Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) Rhee Bong-Jo told reporters in Washington that, to a South Korean figure visiting Pyongyang at the end of last year, Kim expressed his expectations on President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s proposed pragmatism.

As to why the North was delaying its comments on the incoming government’s launch, Rhee cited that the North viewed the next five years as important.

Therefore, he said it was mulling the relations with the new government while paying close attention to the developments.