By Lee Tae-hoon
Former first lady Lee Hee-ho and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun’s recent visit to Pyongyang to offer their condolences to the late leader Kim Jong-il will act as a catalyst for renewing inter-Korean relations, experts said Tuesday.
“The visit by the two symbolic figures for inter-Korean reconciliation may not lead to a direct impact on improving South-North ties, but will certainly serve as a stepping stone or a bridge for future inter-Korean exchanges,” Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said.
Lee and Hyun made a two-day trip to the North on Monday and Tuesday during which they met with the North’s new leader Kim Jong-un and other high-profile officials, including Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Lee is the widow of the late President Kim Dae-jung who hosted the first-ever South-North summit with the late Kim in 2000 and Hyun is the widow of the late former Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Mong-hun who initiated a series of major economic projects in the North from 1998.
The professor said he expects Pyongyang will make a conciliatory gesture at the third round of U.S.-North Korea talks, expected to be held in Beijing early next year.
“Kim Jong-un’s meeting with the two widows demonstrates his confidence to mend ties with the South as the leader of the communist regime,” he said.
“The North will likely make additional efforts to thaw inter-Korean ties after the mourning period ends and Jong-un tightens internal security and his grip on power.”
Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, claims that Lee and Hyun’s visit removed factors that may potentially worsen inter-Korean ties in the future.
“The North appears to have positively assessed Seoul’s permission to send the private delegation,” he said. “Kim Jong-un’s face-to-face meeting with them implies that he is willing to push forward with reconciliation and unification,” he said.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, covered Lee and Hyun’s paying respects to the late Kim on its front page, saying Jong-un expressed his deep appreciation for their visit.
He said Jong-un, the youngest son of the late Kim, never lowers his head when he greets elderly North Korean officials, but bowed deep to former first lady Lee.
“I believe it was the first time that Kim was seen making a deep bow in the public,” he said.
“The gesture can be construed as his deep appreciation for her husband’s engagement policies and the young leader’s willingness to make progress in inter-Korean ties.”
Cheong said Pyongyang may publicly express its readiness to mend inter-Korean ties in its New Year’s message and announce the suspension of its uranium enrichment program to make a breakthrough.
Kim Yeon-su, professor at Korea National Defense University in Seoul, concurred with the two leading North Korea experts, saying he also expects Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s, will likely make sincere efforts to improve ties.
He said that the recent conciliatory gesture is not something new as his late father had sought to improve ties with Seoul for months before he passed away.
“Kim Jong-il supported denuclearization talks in Bali in July and again in September in Beijing,” he said. “Rodong Sinmun also clearly hinted at a shift in the reclusive regime change before his death.”
Professor Kim suggested that the resumption of family reunions around the Lunar New Year in late January and the resumption of food aid from the South to the impoverished North can accelerate the thawing of inter-Korean relations.