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Koreas - North goes South
Delegation from Pyongyang pays respects to late Kim Dae Jung
Article published on the 2009-08-21 Latest update 2009-08-21 12:45 TU
North Korean senior politicians Kim Ki-nam (L),and Kim Yang-gon, at Kim Dae-Jung's memorial altar at the National Assembly, Seoul, 21 August, 2009.
(Photo: Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak)
Six North Korean officials have paid tribute to the late president of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung. Kim Ki-Nam, a close aide to North Korean President Kim Jong -Il, delivered a wreath on the mourning altar in Seoul. It's the first time North Korea has paid tribute to a former South Korean leader.
The delegation arrived by special flight at Gimpo airport near Seoul, and went on to the National Assembly building where the main mourning altar for Kim Dae-Jung has been set up.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's close aide Kim Ki-nam (L), and Kim Yang-gon, at the National Assembly in Seoul, 21 August, 2009.
(Photo: Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak)
One of the two wreaths brought by the delegation from the North bore the name of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il.
The North Korean delegation paid tribute but will not stay on for the funeral on Sunday.
Anti-North Korean protest near the North Korean delegation hotel in Seoul, 21 August, 2009.
(Photo: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won)
YTN television reported that some protestors had shouted anti-North Korea slogans when Pyongyang's delegation approached the altar.
Police dispersed them, and also had to put out fires lit by anti-North activists near the hotel where the North Korean politicians were staying.
Thousands of South Koreans have lined up peacefully to pay their last respects to their former President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was the architect of significant improvements in the North-South relationship. He came to power more than 30 years after the two sides of the peninsula ended hostilities with an armistice.
Kim Dae-Jung was a former dissident who had opposed military rule in South Korea, and when he was president, from 1998 to 2003, he had championed a policy of concrete reconciliation between North and South.
His "Sunshine Policy" did improve relations, but it was halted recently due to a change of government, and the North's nuclear missile tests.
Seoul's Unification Ministry said that the North had not asked for any meeting, but the delegation's brief visit is an opportunity for dialogue with the new government in South Korea.
