The Dalai Lama has accepted an invitation to visit the victims of Typhoon Morakot in southern Taiwan at the end of this month, a Kaohsiung City Government official said yesterday.

Asked about the visit, the Presidential Office told the Taipei Times it had “no comment.”

The Tibetan spiritual leader had expressed his desire to visit Taiwan last November, but President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said then that “the timing isn't appropriate.”