North Korean leader
Kim Jong Eun has sent a wreath and a message of condolences to mark the 5th anniversary of the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, who died on August 18th, 2009. Kim
Yang Geon, the director of the Chosun Workers’ Party United Front Department,
conveyed the items to a South Korean delegation at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on
Sunday afternoon
The South Korean group was led by lawmaker Park Jie Won, alongside former Minister of Unification Im Dong Won and former President Kim’s second son, Kim Hong Up.
The wreath (Image: Kaesong Joint Reporters Group)
read simply, “In memory of former President Kim Dae Jung.”
The message included an
expression of condolences for President Kim’s family, in particular widow Lee
Hee Ho. It praised Kim’s devotion and contribution to “the
cause of reconciliation, unity, and eventual unification,” and noted that his
achievements “will be recalled by generations to come.” Finally, it expressed
the hope that both the former president’s family and the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center, an entity established in his memory, would continue to lead the work of unification.
The meeting began shortly after 17:00 at the office of the Guidance Bureau for Developing Central Special
Economic Zone, the North Korean management entity that nominally oversees the
Kaesong Industrial Complex. It lasted for approximately an hour.
Thereafter, returning to South
Korea via the inter-Korean transit office at Dorasan, Park, one of three
vice-presidents of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center, reported to assembled
journalists that Kim Yang Geon had “responded very sensitively to President
Park [Geun Hye]’s comments about nuclear abandonment during her August 15th [Liberation Day] speech.”
“Kim stressed the
need for resolve in leadership to implement outstanding issues without
preconditions,” he explained.
