By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
A five-member North Korean delegation will visit Seoul for former President Kim Dae-jung's funeral, Rep. Park Jie-won of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Wednesday.
The decision came hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il delivered his deep condolences over the death of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate a day after he died.
The North's immediate, sympathetic response to Kim's death illustrated their special treatment of and respect for the late President.
An architect of the Sunshine Policy of engaging communist North Korea, he held a historic summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on June 13, 2000.
It remains to be seen whether the North's move will have positive implications on thawing icy inter-Korean relations, political observers said.
Park said that North Korea's Asia Pacific Committee, Pyongyang's official organ for projects with Seoul, sent a message to the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, informing that the North would send a delegation consisting of five senior officials of the Workers' Party to the funeral.
Details of their itinerary have not been set. The North will talk with the South Korean government on issues related to their visit. They will fly a direct route over the West Sea.
Park said the North Koreans will likely stay in Seoul for two days for the mission and that they are scheduled to bring funeral flowers on behalf of Kim Jong-il.
Park said, "Days before his death, Kim was informed that Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun and North Korean leader Kim had agreed to resume suspended inter-Korean projects, including tours of Mt. Geumgang. He asked his secretary to read a newspaper article about former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to Pyongyang."
The Korean Central News Agency reported that its leader has sent a message to console the former President's bereaved family.
"Upon hearing the sad news that former President Kim passed away, I express my deep condolences to his wife Lee Hee-ho and her family," Kim Jong-il said in the message.
"Although the former President died, I believe his legacy and accomplishments in inter-Korean reconciliation and reunification of the two Koreas will be passed on to next generations."
The two Kims met in 2000 when they held the first inter-Korean summit talks in Pyongyang, which led to the June 15 declarations on peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean leader's condolences came the day after the former South Korean leader died.
Kim expressed condolences two days after former President Roh Moo-hyun died in May.
He also held a summit with Roh while he was in office in 2007.