Lee Hee-ho, wife of the late former President Kim Dae-jung, the 2000 Nobel laureate, praised U.S. President Barack Obama for winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

"Your receiving the Nobel Peace Prize will usher in a new era of peace and coexistence in this world, which is torn with conflict and antagonism," she said.

She said she believed that the spirit of cooperation and dialogue Obama has demonstrated on the world stage will no doubt be the guiding torch to realizing a world free of nuclear weapons and the tragedy of war.

Obama's leadership and aspiration for amity has given hope to Koreans, who yearn for the establishment of peace and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, she said.