S. Korean ex-first lady on rare NK trip
Print Edition
THE widow of late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung arrived in North Korea yesterday, hoping the rare trip would help ease the perennial tensions that have stymied efforts at cross-border cooperation.
The August 5-8 visit by Lee Hee-ho is ostensibly humanitarian in nature but there has been much speculation about a possible meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who personally approved the trip.
“I hope that this will offer a window for more dialogue, exchange and cooperation,” Lee was quoted as saying by her spokesman as she left Seoul on a direct flight to Pyongyang with an 18-member entourage.
“I am going to Pyongyang with hopes that Koreans can ... heal the wounds and pain of the past 70 years of division,” she said.
The two Koreas technically remain at war and direct flights between the two countries are extremely rare.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency noted her arrival in a one-line despatch.
“Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, and her entourage arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday,” the agency said, offering no other comment.
Lee had visited North Korea three times before, the last trip being to pay respects during the funeral of Kim Jong Un’s father, the late leader Kim Jong Il, in December 2011. At the time, she briefly met Kim Jong Un while he was receiving mourners.
Lee’s husband is best remembered for his “sunshine” policy of engagement with North Korea that led to a historic summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000.
But the policy was largely abandoned when a conservative government took over in 2008 and cross-border ties soured.
Seoul has stressed that Lee’s visit is a personal one and she is not carrying any official message from the government.
Her entourage includes no sitting South Korean official.
But some analysts say her trip and its sanctioning by Kim Jong Un may offer a window for resuming a dialogue on relatively non-political issues.
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