South Korea has decided to allow civilians or private organizations to send their messages of condolences on the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, an official said Wednesday, a day after the Seoul government offered consolation to the North Korean people.
"The government decided to basically allow civilians to send messages of condolences to North Korea via fax or mail," said Choi Boh-seon, a spokesman at the Unification Ministry in charge of North Korean affairs. By law, all contacts between the two Koreas must be approved by the ministry.
Individuals or civic groups need to get the ministry's approval to send condolence messages to North Korea and the ministry plans to grant approvals for such messages under ordinary conditions, Choi told reporters.
So far, several private groups, including Hyundai Asan, a South Korean company that had run tour programs in North Korea, have asked the ministry to send their condolence messages to North Korea, ministry officials said.
Kim died of a heart attack on Saturday, bringing an end to his 17-year rule after he took power following the 1994 death of his father.
On Tuesday, Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik expressed sympathy to the people of North Korea over the death of Kim on behalf of the South Korean government, but the government decided not to send an official condolence delegation to the communist nation.
The Seoul government will, however, allow the families of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and late Hyundai Group chairman Chung Mong-hun to pay condolence visits to the North because Pyongyang had sent delegations to Seoul when Kim and Chung died, Yu told reporters.
North Korea declared a 13-day mourning period through Dec. 29 from the day of Kim's death on Saturday, while stating it will not accept foreign delegations at a state funeral set for Dec. 28 in Pyongyang.
Ministry officials said that the wife of Kim Dae-jung, Lee Hee-ho, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun are preparing to separately visit Pyongyang to pay their respects, but it remains unclear whether North Korea will accept them. (Yonhap)