Senior North Korean official greets former S. Korean first lady

Former South Korean first lady Lee Hee-ho and Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea on Monday to pay respects to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Lee’s husband Kim Dae-jung held the first inter-Korean summit with the late North Korean leader in 2000.

The two delegations passed the military demarcation line and arrived at the North’s passage inspection center at 8:35 a.m. where 12 North Korean officials including Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, greeted them, according to the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean issues.

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency also said on Monday that Lee and Hyun’s delegations arrived in Pyongyang via Gaeseong to pay their respects to the deceased Kim.

“The South Korean government allowed civilian delegations to visit North Korea for improving inter-Korean relations. It also considered South Korean public sentiment,” Unification Ministry spokesperson Choi Boh-seon said.

“However, it is difficult to predict how the South Korean delegations’ private visit to the North will affect inter-Korean relations or whether they will meet with the Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Kim Jong-un.”

Seoul has banned most South Korean individuals and groups from visiting the North to pay condolences to the late Kim, with exceptions made only for Lee and Hyun. Instead, the Seoul government sent a message of sympathy to the North Korean people last week.

The two delegations were to arrive in Pyongyang at 11:30 a.m. and have lunch with North Korean officials, but it was not revealed where the luncheon took place or which North Korean officials the delegations met with.

Lee and Hyun visited the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to offer condolences to the late Kim in the afternoon. They planned to stay one night in Pyongyang and leave for Seoul at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the ministry said. They cannot attend Kim’s funeral scheduled for Wednesday.

Before crossing the border, Lee said in a written message read by her aide that she hopes her visit to Pyongyang can help improve relations between the two Koreas.

When Kim Dae-jung died in 2009, a high-level delegation from Pyongyang separately met with the widowed Lee after paying condolences to Kim in Seoul.

Hyun had met Kim Jong-il several times before, for cross-border business exchanges. Hyun’s late husband and former Hyundai Group chairman Chung Mong-hun worked for inter-Korean business.

The two delegations do not include any South Korean government officials. The South Korean government has allowed civilian individuals and groups to send condolences to North Korea via fax or mail. The Unification Ministry said it has received 49 messages of condolence and sent 27 of them as of Monday.

On Sunday, North Korea warned that the future direction of inter-Korean relations will depend on the South Korean authorities’ attitude toward condolences for the late Kim.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)