【Analysis】 Kim Dae-jung’s last gift, NK’s mourning delegation

Posted on : 2009-08-20 11:04 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
North Korea’s highest level mourning delegation expected to be headed by Worker Party’s Secretary Kim Ki-nam
 Aug 19.
Aug 19.

Observers are suggesting late President Kim Dae-jung’s “final gift” to South Korea is coming in the form of North Korea’s mourning delegation. Many are hoping the delegation’s visit to honor the passing of Kim, who dedicated his entire life to overcoming national division and working to establish peace and unification, may serve as stone in the foundation for improving chilly inter-Korean relations. Some are saying North Korea’s intention to send a delegation pays great respect to Kim Dae-jung, who together with Kim Jong-il was responsible for bringing about the June 15 Joint Declaration that is regarded by North Korea as both a monument and charter for national reunification.

As the delegation’s visit nears, attention is becoming focused on what influence this mourning delegation, the first visit by North Korean officials during the Lee Myung-bak administration, may have inter-Korean relations. In particular, some are saying the rank of the participating officials and the delegation’s agenda ordered by Kim Jong-il, will suggest much.

First, the rank of the officials participating in the delegation appears to be higher than any previous mourning delegations sent to South Korea. Although it has not confirmed the participants yet, it has suggested that it will be sending a five-member delegation that includes a secretary for the Central Committee and a department director of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Since North Korea has a party-nation system under the command of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the announcement of a secretary connotes that very high-ranking officials are being sent.

Experts say it is almost certain that Kim Ki-nam, who handles South Korean affairs, will be named to head the delegation. Kim visited South Korea in 2005 as head of North Korea’s delegation for the August 15 Grand National Festival. Kim had also visited former president Kim Dae-jung when he was hospitalized at Yonsei’s Severance Hospital. In regards to the department head, some are saying it is possible that Kim Yang-kon, the director of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party and chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, will be named.

Others are saying because Kim Yang-kon has no particular history with Kim Dae-jung, one cannot exclude Chang Song-taek, the head of the party’s Administrative Department who met late president Kim as part of an economic study team sent to South Korea in October 2002, or Kim Hi-tae, chief secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party. It also seems likely that figures such as Li Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Committee for Peace in Asia and the Pacific, or Won Dong-yon, director for the Committee for Peace in Asia and the Pacific, may participate in the delegation. Analysts are saying if these figures do come to South Korea, North Korea will have mobilized all of its powerful figures that deal with South Korea policy.

Second, North Korea still has the mourning delegation’s agenda to announce. It has stated that the delegation may stay for one or two days and one night if necessary. A North Korean mourning delegation headed by Song Ho-kyong, the vice chairman of the Committee for Peace in Asia and the Pacific, that came on March 2001 for the memorial services for Chung Ju-yung, honorary chairman of Hyundai Group, visited South Korea for half a day. It is believed this delegation has set as its itinerary to arrive on Aug 21 and depart on Aug 22, indicating that there is time in their schedule to meet with leading South Korean figures. As a result, it seems possible that depending on the South Korean government’s response, unofficial high-level inter-Korean talks could take place. A high-ranking official with the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center says the Lee administration should make good use of this available opportunity.

Meanwhile, some analysts are positing that North Korea’s method of communicating through representatives of the Committee for Peace in Asia and the Pacific and the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center to convey its intention to send a mourning delegation reveals its intention to deal only with private groups during this trip and not communicate with the South Korean government. In both the arguments for and against this viewpoint, analysts are looking to previous instances in which North Korea sent mourning delegations to South Korea. When Chung Ju-yung died, North Korea conveyed its plan to send a delegation through representatives of the Hyundai Group, and not directly to the South Korean government. Regardless, some are pointing to the severing of inter-Korean government communications channels since November might serve as a factor in the delegation’s agenda and significance.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]