Both meet Kim Jong-un and No. 2 North Korea leader Kim Yong-nam


The widows of former President Kim Dae-jung and former Hyundai Asan chairman Chung Mong-hun returned home on Tuesday after their high-profile trip to Pyongyang to express condolences over the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

In the morning, former First Lady Lee Hee-ho and Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun met the North’s titular head Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and expressed “deep condolences” over Kim’s demise, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

During the meeting at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the two women expressed hope the joint declarations signed during inter-Korean summits in June 2000 and October 2007 will be implemented, and said that they will make efforts for this, the KCNA reported.

On Monday, they met Kim Jong-il’s heir, Jong-un, and paid tributes to the late leader at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where his body is laid in a glass coffin ahead of his funeral set for Wednesday.

There, Lee talked with Jong-un for about 10 minutes while Hyun said she had no private talks with the heir, who state media in the North have referred to as the top leader both in the military and ruling Workers’ Party.

“(Kim Jong-un) thanked her for visiting (the North) from far away,” Yun Cheol-gu, secretary general of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, told reporters on behalf of the 89-year-old Lee at the Dorasan immigration office near the border.

“(To mourn his death, she) waited for 40-50 minutes and then talked with (Jong-un) for about 10 minutes.”

Hyun stressed that her visit to Pyongyang was “purely for the mourning purpose,” dismissing speculation that there might have been talks with Pyongyang officials over cross-border businesses.

“(I) just expressed my sympathy. I had no separate talks (with Jong-un) and did not meet him separately,” she said.

“We (Hyun and Kim Yong-nam) talked about general issues as I visited the North purely for the purpose of mourning.”

The two delegations they led crossed the heavily fortified border on Monday for a two-day visit. Seoul allowed only them to visit Pyongyang to reciprocate the North’s delegations that attended the funerals for Kim and Chung in 2009 and 2003, respectively.

Their visit drew keen attention here as the heir, currently serving as vice chairman of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission, could convey a significant message to South Korea.

Observers attached special meaning to their visits to the grieving country as their late husbands were a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il held the first-ever North-South summit in 2000, and the Hyundai Group pioneered business exchanges between the two Koreas.

Before returning to Seoul, the two delegations also toured the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, the last remaining symbol of bilateral cooperation. Ties between the two Koreas have soured since the two deadly attacks by the North killed 50 South Koreans last year including two civilians.

After meeting Jong-un on Monday, the two women wrote messages of condolence, according to the North’s state media.

“Although Kim Jong-il, chairman of the National Defense Commission, has passed away, I hope that we can achieve national reunification at an early date by upholding the spirit of the June 15 inter-Korean declaration (signed in 2000 during the first inter-Korean summit),” Lee said in her message.

Hyun’s message read: “The National Defense Commission chairman who has made efforts for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation will be remembered in our hearts for good.”

The North Korean media reported in detail their visits as top stories. The article on the South Korean mourning delegations appeared on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun, the official daily publication of the ruling party, on Tuesday. Its television also showed footage of the two shaking hands with the sad-looking Jong-un.

The North announced last Monday that Kim, who ruled the state with an iron fist for some 17 years, died of a heart attack on a train ride on Dec. 17.

South Korea has decided not to send a government delegation to the North to prevent an ideological division of public opinion over the issue. It has expressed “consolation” to the North Korean people, but fallen short of offering condolences to Pyongyang.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)