SAR model for unity

South Korea has been studying Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty as a possible model for its reunification with the communist North, President Kim Dae-jung said before leaving the SAR yesterday for Seoul.

Beijing and the SAR administration had implemented principles guaranteeing local rule and autonomy and abided by them, he said.

'As a divided nation, the Republic of Korea has a lot of interest in the new experiment of 'one country, two systems', where a socialist governing system and a capitalist market economy co-exist,' said Mr Kim.