Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun plans to visit North Korea to pay a tribute to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, company officials said on Tuesday.

The plan was revealed as the South Korean government decided to allow her family members to visit the North for the tribute to Kim.

The officials said the group will finalize the chairwoman’s visit schedule after having consultations with the Ministry of Unification.

Earlier in the day, Hyun expressed her condolences over the death of the North Korean leader Kim whom she met during her visit to Pyongyang in 2009.

“I sincerely grieve the sudden death of Chairman Kim who played a role in improving inter-Korean relations by launching the Gaeseong industrial complex and Mount Geumgang,” Hyun said in a press release.

The remark marks the first time that a South Korean entrepreneur has openly mourned the death of the North Korean leader, who died on Saturday.

Hyun, who took over the conglomerate from her late husband Chung Mong-hun in 2003, has been heavily committed to maintaining the group’s business presence in the North despite the cooling of cross-border relations after conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008.

The group started tours to Mount Geumgang on the east coast and built up the Gaseong complex that has fueled trade between the two Koreas. Bilateral trade reached $1.26 billion in the first nine months of this year, with 99 percent of the total coming from Gaeseong, which currently employs about 49,600 workers from both South and North Korea.

Related to the remarks, local business sources said Hyun needed to make herself heard because she wants to restart the mountain tours that have been suspended since a North Korea guard killed a South Korean tourist at the resort three years ago.

They added that the Hyundai Group chairwoman may visit the North to personally express her sympathies if Seoul permits such a trip.

Hyun has met Kim three times since 2005, making her one of the few local CEOs to have repeatedly had contact with the reclusive leader.

(From news reports)