birthday celebrations of North Korea's communist dictator Kim Il Sung.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade said his party's attendance does not signify any sympathy or admiration for the North Korean regime -- one of the few remaining bastions of hardline communism.

It was, he said, simply a case of two party members seizing a rare opportunity for an educational tour.

The two representatives are Mrs. Aurelia Burch, a retired teacher and one of the party's founders, and Mr. George Scott, the Bermuda Industrial Union's chief shop steward at Marriott's Castle Harbour and an active PLP worker in Warwick.

Mr. Wade said Mrs. Burch and Mr. Scott were "interested in seeing one of the last vestiges of communism. We saw no harm in it. We are quite clear where we stand ... We know that communism is on the way out, and we are with the west.'' Before the trip was authorised, he said, some party officials were worried the party would be accused of being communist. But he said that is clearly not the case, and the visit should not be construed as anything more than an educational.

The party received the invitations and gave the approval, Mr. Wade said, but is not contributing toward the cost.

President Kim Il Sung has led the country since Korea was split into a communist north and a capitalist south at the end of World War II. He is the object of a zealous personality cult. Referred to as the "Great Leader,'' he recently acquired the additional title of "Generalissimo.''