DIRECT CP VIOLATION IN KAPPA(L)-]PI(0) E- BEYOND LEADING LOGARITHMS(E)

We analyze the direct CP violation in the rare decay K(L) --> pi0e+e- with QCD effects taken into account consistently in the next-to-leadin g order. We calculate the two-loop mixing between the four-quark DELTA S = 1 operators and the operator Q7V = (sdBAR)V-A(eeBAR)V in the NDR a nd HV renormalization schemes. Using the known two-loop anomalous dime nsion matrix of the four-quark operators, we find that the coefficient C7V(mu) depends only very weakly on mu, renormalization scheme and LA MBDA(MS)BAR. The next-to-leading QCD corrections enhance the direct CP violating contribution over its leading order estimate so that it rem ains dominant in spite of the recent decrease of \V(ub)\V(cb)\ and \V( cb)\. We expect typically BR(K(L) --> pi0e+e-)dir almost-equal-to 6 x 10(12), although values as high as 10(-11) are not yet excluded.